<%  Imrl  of  Int]0. 


"  The  Sundays  of  man's  life, 
Threaded  together  on  Time's  string, 
Make  bracelets  to  adorn  the  wife 
Of  the  eternal  glorious  King. 
On  Sundays  heaven's  door  stands  ope, 
Blessings  are  plentiful  and  rife, 

More  plentiful  than  hope." 

GEORGE  HERBERT. 


THE 


PEARL   OF   DAYS: 


THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SABBATH  TO 
THE    WORKING-    CLASSES 


BY    A    LABOURER'S    DAUGHTER. 


WITH  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  LIFE,  BY  HERSELF, 


feg  an  Apttican 


4  NEW-YORK: 

EDWARD  H.  FLETCHER,  141  NASSAU  STREET. 

M  DCCC  L. 


GIFT 


TO    THE 

t  ISxcdtot 


MADAM— 

Humble  as  is  this  tribute  of  loyalty,  it  is  not 
without  significance.  No  sovereign  ever  presented 
stronger  claims  to  the  love  and  allegiance  of  her 
industrious  subjects  ;  and  it  tells  how  happy  is  our 
Constitution,  and  how  condescending  is  our  Monarch, 
that  pages  written  by  a  labourer's  daughter  should  find 
a  Patron  in  the  Queen. 

221 


vni 

Nor   will   the  Tract  itself  be   without  its  interest  to 

your    Majesty,   to  whose    Royal    Halls    such    glory  is 

added  by  the   piety,  virtue,  and  domestic  affections  so 
often  found  in  Britain's  lowliest  homes. 

This  Tract  discusses  the  Temporal  Advantages  of 
the  Sabbath  Day.  The  same  topic  has  recently  en- 
gaged the  pens  of  nearly  a  thousand  working  men.  And 
it  is  not  the  least  advantage  of  the  Lord's  day,  that  every 
labourer  who  learns  to  keep  it  holy  is  another  peaceful 
citizen  gained  to  the  community,  and  another  added  to 
those  best  subjects  who,  hi  their  weekly  assemblies, 
pray,  GOD  SAVE  THE  QUEEN. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be 

Your  Majesty's 
Most  obedient  and  very  humble  Servant, 

THE  PROPOSER  OF  THE  ESSAY. 
JULY,  1848. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


HAVE  been    requested  by  the  publisher 
to    introduce  this    little   volume    to   the 
notice    of   American    readers.         "  THE 
PEARL  OF  DAYS  ;   The  Advantages  of  the 
Sabbath  to  the    Working  Classes.     By  a 
Labourer's  Daughter."     How  much  is  expressed 
in  such  a  title-page !      Does    the    book   realize 
the    hopes    which   at    once   suggest  themselves 
to  the  intelligent  and  benevolent  mind  ? 

To  do  this,  the  book  should  indicate  on  the  part  of  the 
author  a  degree  of  cultivation  not  usual  in  her  sphere  of 
life,  and  attest  this  cultivation  as  the  fruit  of  proper  Sab- 
bath observance.  And  such  cannot  fail  to  be  the  results 
to  which  every  reader  will  arrive.  These  pages  will 
reveal  a  mind  of  singular  discipline  and  acuteness,  of 
large  observation  and  much  philosophical  power, — a 


PREFACE. 


heart  imbued  with  sentiments  of  devout  and  cheerful 
piety,  contented  with  its  lot  on  earth,  and  looking  for  its 
better  inheritance  in  heaven  ; — and  all  these  in  necessary 
connection  with  a  domestic  training,  hi  which  a  labour- 
ing man's  cottage  illustrates  the  true  idfea  of  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath. 

I  commend  the  "  Pearl  of  Days"  to  readers  of  every 
class,  but  particularly  I  commend  it 

I.  To  PARENTS.     To  them  its  Sketch  of  the  Author's 
Life  will  exhibit  hints    and   illustrations   pertaining   to 
domestic  discipline  and  happiness,  such  as  convince  by 
their  wisdom,  and  win  by  their  beauty,  such  as  adapt 
themselves  equally  to  the  homes  of  princes  and  peasants, 
and  indicate  the  true  methods  of  training  children  for  any 
grade  of  life  in  which  their  lot  may  be  cast. 

II.  To  THE  FRIENDS  OF  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.     The  evils 
of  society  have  awakened  the  sympathy  of  the  benevo- 
lent.    The  best  methods  of  removing  them,  especially  of 
removing  such  as  oppress  the  working  classes,  are  sub- 
jects which  everywhere  task  the  thoughts  of  the  wise 
and  good.     Let  all  such  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  Labourer's 
Daughter.      She  has    received   wisdom   at  the    feet    of 
Christ.     She  teaches  the  true  social  regeneration.     Phi- 


PREFACE.  XI 


losophers,  economists,  statesmen,  can  develop  no  theories 
of  progress  so  certainly  promising  and  assuring  virtue, 
order,  industry,  plenty,  concord,  happiness. 

III.  To  THE  WORKING  CLASSES  THEMSELVES.  In 
America,  more  than  in  any  other  land  on  earth,  the  work- 
ing classes  may  work  out  for  themselves  an  honourable 
destiny.  To  a  wide  extent,  these  classes  are  conscious 
of  their  opportunities  Many  a  mother  in  the  hut  of 
poverty  presses  her  child  to  her  heart,  and  anticipates  for 
him  a  sphere  of  life  higher  than  her  own.  How  shall  she 
place  his  feet  in  the  path  which  leads  to  it  ?  This  ques- 
tion starts  in  her  thoughts  a  thousand  times.  Here  she 
may  solve  it.  Asking  a  higher  destiny,  the  working 
classes  cry,  "  Who  will  show  us  any  good  ?"  And 
responses  come  back  to  them  in  numberless  forms, — one 
telling  them  that  their  rise  in  the  social  scale  is  to  be 
secured  by  the  triumph  of  a  political  party,  or  by  the 
success  of  certain  measures  of  public  policy, — another 
bidding  them  seek  relief  in  "  Unions"  for  the  regulation 
of  the  wages  of  labour,  and  for  mutual  protection  against 
the  oppressions  of  employers — and  another  declaring  that 
their  depression  is  the  fruit  of  a  false  social  organization, 
and  will  find  its  remedy  in  the  schemes  of  "  Association." 
But  these  are  not  responses  of  wisdom  and  truth.  The 


Xll  PREFACE. 

labouring  classes  must  work  out  their  own  rise,  through 
their  own  intelligence  and  virtue.  Intelligent  and  virtu- 
ous, they  will  command  respect ;  they  will  be  neither  the 
dupes  of  the  designing,  nor  the  slaves  of  the  tyrannicaL 
On  these  points  they  will  find  this  little  volume,  from  one 
of  their  own  class,  full  of  counsels  gathered  from  the 
source  of  all  truth.  Let  them  ponder  thoughtfully  its 
pages. 

I  need  not  explain  the  occasion  of  the  publication  of 
this  Essay  in  England.  That  is  sufficiently  explained  in 
the  Introduction  which  follows.  It  has  had  a  large  circu- 
lation in  that  country,  under  the  patronage  of  the  great 
and  good,  and  dedicated,  by  her  own  cheerful  pel-mission, 
to  the  excellent  woman  who  sits  upon  the  British  throne, 
and  exalts  her  lofty  position  by  her  exemplary  piety.  I 
cannot  doubt  that  the  Essay  will  be  equally  acceptable 
on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  as  fruitful  in  beneficent 
influences. 

New  York,  Nov.  15   1848. 


INTRODUCTION. 


HE  circumstances  out  of 
which  the  following  Es- 
say, with  its  accompany- 
ing Sketch  of  the  Author's 
Life,  originated,  are  as  remarkable 
as  they  are  deeply  interesting  and 
hopeful.  Jealous  for  the  honour  of 
God's  Sabbath,  which  men  of  the 
world  were  periling — jealous  for  the  privi- 
leges to  man  conferred  by  the  Sabbath — 
jealous  for  the  labouring  man,  whose  feel- 
ings respecting  the  Sabbath  were  often 
misrepresented  to  his  disadvantage,  a 
layman  resolved  to  afford  an  opportunity 
for  the  working  classes  to  speak  their 
own  mind  freely  on  the  matter,  and  to 


14  INTRODUCTION. 


bear  their  testimony  to  the  blessings  and 
privileges  of  the  day,  and  thereby  to  the 
glory  of  God,  the  author  and  giver  of  it. 
With  these  views,  he  put  forth  a  propo- 
sal, about  the  end  of  the  year  1847, 
offering  three  prizes — of  £25,  £15,  and 
£10,  respectively — for  the  three  best 
Essays  on  the  subject,  written  by  labour- 
ing men.  Although  this  is  the  first 
instance  upon  record  of  persons  of  that 
class  being  invited  to  become  competitors 
in  literature,  and  for  literary  honours ; 
and  although  comparatively  a  very  brief 
time  was  allowed  for  preparing  and  send- 
ing in  the  Essays,  yet  three  months — 
the  first  three  of  the  year  1848 — sufficed 
to  produce  the  astonishing  number  of 
more  than  nine  hundred  and  fifty  compo- 
sitions, manifesting  by  the  single  fact, 
without  reference  to  the  merits  of  these 
productions,  the  wide-spread  interest  and 
deeply-rooted  principles  with  which  the 


INTRODUCTION.  15 


holy  day  of  God   is   reverenced,  loved, 
and  honoured,  by  the  labouring  people. 

Amongst  the  Essays  received  was  one 
from  a  female,  accompanied  by  a  letter, 
which  will  be  found  at  the  conclusion  of 
this  Introduction,  and  which  the  reader 
will  peruse  with  interest,  as  indicating 
the  habitual  tone  of  Divine  and  filial 
piety  which  pervades  the  mind  of  the 
writer.  The  Essay  itself  was  found  to 
be  correspondent  in  tone  and  spirit  with 
the  letter.  It  is,  indeed,  a  composition 
of  no  ordinary  kind,  whether  we  regard 
the  source  from  whence  it  came,  the 
instructive  matter  it  contains,  or  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  materials  are  worked 
up  in  the  composition,  and  the  diction  in 
which  they  are  expressed.  The  Adju- 
dicators, although,  in  faithfulness  to  the 
other  competitors,  constrained  to  lay  it 
aside,  as  the  work  of  a  female,  yet  felt 
at  the  same  time  that  it  wTas  a  production 


16  INTRODUCTION. 


which  ought  not  to  be  withheld  from  the 
world,  and  that  it  was  a  duty  as  much  to 
humanity  as  to  the  talented  writer  her- 
self, not  to  suffer  it  to  return  to  privacy 
and  forgetfulness.  It  was,  therefore,  pro- 
posed to  her  to  allow  of  its  publication, 
independently  of  the  forthcoming  Prize 
Essays  when  adjudged,  and  she  was 
requested,  at  the  same  time,  to  write  a 
sketch  of  her  life  to  prefix  to  the  Essay 
when  published.  In  both  of  these  propo- 
sals she  willingly  acquiesced;  and  the 
reader  has  before  him  two  equally  re- 
markable and  interesting  compositions, 
the  Essay  and  the  Sketch.^ 

To  an  ordinary  mind  the  preparation 
of  the  latter  would  have  been  even  more 
difficult  than  the  former.  Here  was  the 


*  It  may  be  proper  to  state,  that  in  preparing  the  Essay  and 
Sketch  for  publication,  no  liberty  has  been  taken  with  the 
author's  composition,  further  than  to  render  the  language  cor- 
rect. For  the  satisfaction  of  any  persons  who  may  wish  to  see 
the  manuscript,  it  can  be  inspected"  at  the  publishers. — ED. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 


opportunity  for  and  danger  of  egotism. 
But  here  also  was  the  opportunity  for 
the  exhibition  and  proof  of  real  talent, 
and  of  genuine  piety.  To  sink  self,  and 
to  elevate  principles,  should  be  the  sole 
object  of  autobiography.  To  effect  this 
in  a  sketch  is  even  more  difficult  than  in 
a  tale  of  life.  It  requires  the  hand  of  a 
master  to  give  off  with  the  pencil  those 
few  but  telling  touches  that  convert  sur- 
face into  substance,  and  place  on  the 
blank  void  forms  of  life,  and  grace,  and 
comeliness.  And  no  less  talent  does  it 
demand  to  portray  in  words  those  truthful 
and  instructive  scenes  which  the  homes 
of  the  godly  present,  amid  which  our 
authoress  lived  and  was  nourished,  and  of 
which  it  may  justly  be  said  that  she  is 
herself  one  of  their  noblest  ornaments. 

Our  authoress  has  learned  by  experi- 
ence, and  has  ably  developed  in  her 
sketch,  some  of  the  most  useful  and  valu- 

2* 


18  INTRODUCTION. 


able  lessons  of  life.  One  of  these  is 
beautifully  and  powerfully  given  in  the 
following  words  :  "  How  often  are  oppor- 
tunities of  doing  small  acts  of  kindness 
and  usefulness  let  slip,  while  we  are 
sighing  over  our  narrow  sphere  and  our 
limited  means  of  serving  God  or  bene- 
fiting man !"  Would  it  not  be  a  mel- 
ancholy and  unwholesome  sentimentality 
that  should  sit  down  and  lament  over 
itself  as  having  no  space  capacious  enough 
for  its  designs,  and  no  arena  worthy  of 
its  visions,  instead  of  contenting  itself 
with  the  many  common  opportunities  of 
doing  good  which  every-day  life  sup- 
plies ?  It  may  sound,  indeed,  well  to 
sigh  over  oneself  in  such  circumstances, 

"  Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air ;" 

and,  by  appropriating  the  idea  to  our 
own  condition,  hug  ourselves  with  the 


INTRODUCTION.  19 


fancy  that  we  would,  if  we  might,  make 
ourselves  widely  useful  in  our  genera- 
tion ;  but  far  nobler,  surely,  and  far  more 
worthy  of  our  imitation,  is  the  devout 
and  holy  thought  expressed  in'  the  fol- 
lowing stanza : 

"  The  trivial  round,  the  common  task, 
Should  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask  ; 
Room  to  deny  ourselves  ;  a  road 
To  bring  us,  daily,  nearer  God." 

How  admirably  are  brought  out,  in 
every  part  of  this  Sketch,  some  of  those 
lessons  most  profitable  for  the  wife  and 
the  mother  to  practise  !  What  a  valua- 
ble one,  for  example,  is  this !  My 
mother  "used  to  say  that  it  was  disa- 
greeable and  improper  to  be  bustling 
about  while  father  was  within  ;  and  when 
he  was  gone  out,  the  work  must  be  done 
up."  Oh  that  wives  and  mothers  under- 
stood and  practised  this  wisely  and  well ! 
What  different  scenes  would  the  cot- 


20  INTRODUCTION. 


tager's  home  present  if  they  did  !  How 
many  a  man  would  be  saved  from  the 
alehouse  firesfde,  where  comfort  and  con- 
venience are  studied  to  seduce  him  into 
sin,  if  wives  and  mothers  would  but  so 
order  their  households  that  when  the 
father  returns  his  coming  shall  be  wel- 
comed by  cleanliness  and  peace,  and  his 
home  shall  be  made  to  him  the  most 
blessed  and  grateful  place  that  he  can 
find! 

What  a  beautiful  family  picture  is  this 
whole  Sketch  !  No  wonder  that  our  au- 
thoress is  capable  of  being  such  a  daugh- 
ter, when  she  has  had  such  a  mother  to 
instruct  her.  Think,  reader,  of  the  child 
repeating  her  lessons  beside  the  wash- 
tub,  and  gleaning  the  rudiments  of  learn- 
ing in  so  simple  a  school,  and  from  such 
a  preceptor  ;  and  then  turn  to  the  pages 
of  this  Sketch  and  Essay,  and  as  you 
read,  and  admire,  and  wonder,  as  you 


INTRODUCTION. 


must,  adore  humbly  as  you  ought,  and 
exclaim,  What  hath  God  wrought !  It  is 
His  work.  It  is  the  edifying  effect  and 
power  of  His  grace.  To  Him  be  all  the 
glory  and  the  praise ! 


LETTER  REFERRED  TO  IN  PAGE  15. 

"  SIR, — I  have  thought  it  unnecessary  to  inquire 
whether  a  female  might  be  permitted  to  enter  among  the 
competitors  for  the  prizes  offered  in  your  advertisement. 
The  subject  of  the  Essay  is  of  equal  interest  to  woman  as 
to  man  ;  and  this  being  the  case,  I  have  looked  upon  your 
restriction  as  merely  confining  this  effort  to  the  working 
classes.  Whether  I  judge  rightly  or  not,  matters  but 
little ;  the  effort  I  have  made  to  gather  a  few  thoughts 
together  upon  this  subject  will  at  least  be  of  use  to  my- 
self; and  should  you  consider  these  sheets  as  contain- 
ing any  thoughts  of  value,  they  are  at  your  disposal. 
They  .cannot  be  expectetl  to  be  free  from  errors,  both  in 
diction  and  orthography,  as  this  is  the  first  effort  of  the 
kind  I  have  ever  made  ;  and  I  may  say  I  am  one  of  those 
who  never  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  attending  school  in 
early  days,  except  for  two  years,  or  rather  for  one ;  for 
it  was  but  for  two  years  that  one  of  my  sisters  and  myself 
attended  a  sewing-school  alternately  ;  one  of  us  remain- 


22  INTRODUCTION. 


ing  at  home  one  week,  to  assist  mother  with  household 
labour,  or  in  attending  to  the  younger  children,  and  going 
to  school  next  week,  while  the  other  remained  at  home. 
Since  that  time  I  have  been  constantly  occupied  hi  house- 
hold labour,  either  in  my  father's  house,  or  as  a  servant  in 
other  families  ;  and  thus  I  may  truly  say,  that  all  the 
education  I  have  enjoyed,  was  received  at  the  fireside  of 
hard-working  parents.  While  memoiy  lasts  I  shall  never 
forget  the  indefatigable  exertions  of  our  beloved  mother 
to  impart  intelligence  to  our  minds,  and  implant  moral 
principle  in  her  children.  How  we  used  to  enjoy  our 
Sabbaths  !  When  our  father  bent  his  knees,  with  his 
children  around,  on  the  morning  of  the  Lord's  day,  how 
fervently  he  used  to  thank  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  for  its  blessed  hours !  That  father  is  gone  from 
among  his  children  ;  but  his  voice  yet  falls  upon  my  ear, 
and  his  form  yet  rises  before  my  eye,  as  upon  the  first 
day  of  the  week  he  used  to  read  to  us  the  sacred  page, 
and  lead  our  devotions." 


fofofr  of  %  Inters  life. 


I 


SKETCH  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  LIFE. 

fHE  following  sketch  of  my  past  history, 
which,  at  your  request,  I  furnish,  can 
be  of  little  interest  or  value,  any  farther 
than  perhaps  leading  the  minds  of  Christian 
parents  properly  to  estimate  the  import- 
ance of  the  duties  devolving  upon  them, 
and  begetting  a  higher  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  the  weekly  rest,  as  affording  an 
opportunity  to  all  Christians,  however  poor 
their  circumstances,  or  laborious  their  em- 
ployment, of  imparting  instruction  to  their 
offspring.  It  may  tend  also  to  show  that 
no  Christian  mother,  with  the  Bible  in  her 
hand,  and  possessing  the  power  of  reading 
and  understanding  the  blessed  truths  it 
reveals,  can  plead  excuse  if  she  allow  her 
children  to  grow  up  in  ignorance  of  those 
truths,  the  knowledge  of  which  would  lead 
them  in  safety  and  happiness  through  all 
the  temptations  to  which  youth  is  exposed 
in  this  world  of  folly  and  wickedness. 


3 


26  SKETCH    OF    THE 


If  she  properly  estimates  the  importance 
of  the  blessings  imparted  by  the  knowledge 
of  God,. and  really  feels  the  power  of  the 
love  of  God  in  her  own  heart,  poverty  may 
surround  her,  the  pressure  of  domestic  cares 
may  lie  heavily  upon  her,  or  she  may  be 
engaged  in  the  most  menial  and  laborious 
employment,  but,  in  the  midst  of  all  this, 
she  will  find  opportunity  to  awaken  and 
enlighten  the  young  minds  of  her  offspring. 
It  is  the  duty  of  Christian  parents,  in  what- 
ever situation  in  life,  to  train  up  their  chil- 
dren in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord ;  and  it  is  a  duty  which  they  can 
entrust  to  no  one  else  without  a  direct  vio- 
lation of  the  command  of  their  Saviour,  and 
incurring  a  fearful  risk  as  regards  the  well- 
being  of  their  children. 

Is  it  not  a  strange  sight,  to  see  a  Christian 
parent  so  deeply  involved  in  business,  so 
engrossed  with  the  cares  of  this  life,  or  so 
occupied  with  other  matters,  however  impor- 
tant, that  he  is  compelled  to  entrust  the 
moral  and  religious  training  of  his  children 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  27 


to  a  hireling  ? — a  preacher  so  much  engaged 
in  proclaiming  the  Gospel  to  sinners  in  the 
world,  that  he  has  no  time  to  lead  his  own 
little  ones  to  the  feet  of  Jesus  ? — a  father 
so  occupied  with  the  improvement  of  his 
neighbours,  with  Sabbath-schools,  prayer 
and  class  meetings,  or  evening  lectures  and 
sermons,  that  he  has  no  leisure  to  lead,  in 
proper  season,  the  devotions  of  his  own 
little  circle  at  home  ?  Such  a  man  substi- 
tutes his  own  way  for  the  will  of  God  ;  and, 
in  so  far  as  he  does  so,  the  consequences 
will  be  seen  in  the  future  character  of  his 
children;  and  even  he  himself  will  suffer 
loss  in  the  health  of  his  own  soul. 

Parents,  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands, 
and  the  word  of  God  hidden  in  their  hearts, 
having  the  blessed  hours  of  Sabbath  rest  as 
their  birthright,  however  humble  their  cir- 
cumstances or  toilsome  their  life,  can  never 
be  entirely  destitute  of  an  opportunity  for 
training  and  instructing  their  offspring. 

In  glancing  back  on  the  years  of  child- 
hood, and  tracing  the  influences  which  have 


28  SKETCH    OF    THE 


surrounded  me  through  youth,  I  am  convin- 
ced, that,  in  so  far  as  my  mind  has  been 
awakened  to  intelligence,  and  my  character 
formed  to  virtue,  under  God,  I  owe  all  to 
my  parents,  but  especially  to  my  mother  : 
her  earnest  and  indefatigable  exertions,  in 
the  face  of  difficulties  which  would  have 
deterred  any  common  mind  from  attempting 
such  a  task,  together  with  her  ceaseless 
watchfulness,  secured  for  us  such  an  amount 
of  knowledge,  and  formed  in  us  such  habits, 
as  raised  us  above  the  temptations  which 
usually  beset  youth  in  the  humble  walks  of 
life.  While  the  constant  necessity  existed, 
as  soon  as  we  were  able  to  do  anything — 
for  all  our  exertions  toward  the  support  of 
the  family  allowed  us  little  time  to  cultivate 
acquaintances,  whether  injurious  or  benefi- 
cial— our  mother's  constant  endeavour  was, 
even  through  the  very  early  years  of  child- 
hood, to  keep  our  hands  and  heads  fully 
employed. 

Memory  carries  me  back  to  a  period  when 
my  parents,  with  five  little  ones  around  them, 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  29 


tenanted  an  obscure  garret  in  the  outskirts 
of  one  of  the  principal  towns  of  Scotland. 
By  some  of  those  vicissitudes  common  to 
all,  my  father  was,  at  this  time,  out  of 
employment  ;  hardships  were  endured, 
pinching  want  sometimes  visited  their  fire- 
side. Of  these  things  I  have  heard,  but 
have  no  recollection  of  them,  as  I  could  not 
then  be  much  more  than  four  years  old. 
Yet  a  shadowy  vision  sometimes  rises  before 
me  of  a  broad  paved  street,  along  which  I 
was  running  on  before  our  father  in  joyful 
haste,  that  I  might  be  the  first  to  apprise 
mother  that  the  meeting  was  dismissed  ? 
but  as  to  whether  the  place  of  assembly  we 
had  just  left  was  an  upper  chamber  where 
a  handful  of  disciples  met  together,  or  a 
large  and  fashionable  edifice,  memory  sup- 
plies nothing.  A  dim  dreary  scene,  too, 
sometimes  passes  before  me  of  some  back 
yard  or  lane  where*  I  was  standing  with  my 
hand  in  my  father's,  gazing  with  childish 
delight,  and,  at  the  same  time,  with  a  feel- 
ing of  awe  and  admiration,  upon  the  starry 


30  SKETCH    OF    THE 


heavens.  I  know  not  what,  at  that  moment, 
led  my  eye  to  the  bright  scene  over  head  ; 
nor  yet  what  fixed  these  two  incidents  of 
my  childhood  so  indelibly  upon  my  memory, 
for  they  are  associated,  in  my  mind,  with 
nothing  particular  of  which  I  ever  heard  any 
one  speak  ;  but  they  are  almost  the  only 
recollections  I  have  of  the  short  time  spent 
in  this  place. 

I  think  that  before  this  time  I  must  have 
been  pretty  far  advanced  in  reading,  as  I 
have  no  remembrance  of  ever  learning,  or 
having  any  difficulty  with  common  books. 
Our  father,  at  the  time  alluded  to,  was 
exerting  himself  to  find  a  settled  situation 
as  a  gardener,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  taking 
whatever  work  he  could  get  in  the  small 
gardens  in  the  neighbourhood.  He  was 
soon  noticed  as  an  active  and  tasteful  gar- 
dener, and  received  into  the  employment 
of  a  gentleman  whose  property  lay  in  that 
part  of  Scotland  known  by  the  name  of 
Strathmore,  or  "  the  great  valley." 

The  dwelling  we  now  entered  was  very 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  31 


pleasantly  situated  near  a  river  called  the 
South  Esk,  which  flows  through  that  part  of 
the  country.  Between  it  and  the  high-way 
was  a  large  field,  with  a  belt  of  trees  on  the 
side  next  the  house  ;  on  the  other  side  lay 
the  garden ;  while  beneath  the  garden, 
stretching  .to  the  river,  was  what  we  used 
to  call  the  haugh,  a  flat  little  meadow. 

Our  dwelling  in  appearance  was  not 
unlike  one  of  those  houses  which  are  ten- 
anted by  farmers  in  the  south-east  of  Scot- 
land. Its  dimensions,  its  blue  slated  roof, 
and  its  smooth  grass  plot,  encircled  with  a 
gravel  walk  before  the  door,  bespoke  it 
the  abode,  if  not  of  affluence,  at  least  of 
competence.  It  had  not,  when  planned, 
been  intended  as  the  abode  of  a  servant, 
but  as  a  residence  for  the  proprietor's 
mother,  who  having  been  removed  by 
death,  we  were  permitted  to  occupy  it. 
Had  the  reader  visited  that  spot  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  when  the  young  planta- 
tions were  arrayed  in  bright  green,  the 
music  of  wild  birds  welcoming  the  morning, 


32  SKETCH    OF    THE 


while  the  cowslip,  the  meadow-crocus,  and 
the  primrose  studded  the  banks,  and  the 
butter-ball,  the  wild  geranium,  and  num- 
berless flowers  besides,  were  shooting  up 
amid  the  tangled  maze  of  yellow  whins  and 
broom,  wild  rose,  and  scented  sweet  brier, 
which  covered  that  little  haugh;  or  had  he 
sauntered  down  to  the  river,  walked  along 
the  pebbles  on  its  shore,  and  seen  the  little 
trout  sparkling  in  the  sunbeam  as  it  leaped 
at  the  insects  that  sported  upon  the  surface 
of  the  water,  he  would  have  called  it  a 
pleasant  dwelling-place.  It  was  indeed  a 
sunny  spot,  and  the  gay  children  who  used 
to  ramble  at  will  amid  its  beauties,  were 
as  happy  a  little  band  as  could  have  been 
found. 

Yet,  freely  though  they  wandered  among 
the  surrounding  pleasure  grounds,  they  were 
carefully  taught  to  avoid  putting  their  foot 
in  an  improper  place,  or  setting  forth  a  hand 
to  injure  shrub  or  tree  ;  and  this  in  itself 
was  calculated  to  form  and  strengthen  in  us 
a  hAbit  of  self-restraint.  Even  in  infancy 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  33 


our  parents  began  our  moral  training  ;  a 
prompt  and  cheerful  submission  to  parental 
authority  was  the  first  habit  they  sought 
to  form ;  and  this  once  accomplished,  the 
instruction  and  training  of  youth  are  com- 
paratively easy.  As  soon  as  we  became 
capable  of  understanding  the  reasons  which 
influenced  them  in  their  conduct  towards 
us,  we  were  taught  that  our  parents  were 
the  guardians  placed  over  us  by  our  Cre- 
ator, in  his  kind  care  for  our  welfare,  and 
that  it  was  his  will,  that  to  them  we  should 
in  all  things  cheerfully  submit  ourselves 
without  hesitation  or  murmuring. 

I  have  often  thought,  when  I  have  seen  chil- 
dren allowed  to  demand  a  reason  for  every 
trifling  order,  numerous  reasons  and  excuses 
having  to  be  discussed,  and  thus  a  long  alter- 
cation entered  into  between  parent  and  child, 
in  the  shape  of  reasoning,  before  a  lesson  could 
be  attended  to,  or  the  most  trivial  command 
obeyed,  what  an  incalculable  amount  of  evil 
is  done  to  children  by  such  treatment ! 
Not  only  is  time  wasted,  but  self-will  is 


34  SKETCH    OF    THE 


fostered,  and  a  habit  of  tardy  performance 
of  duty  induced. 

Few  parents  seem  to  comprehend  how 
soon  even  a  very  young  child  may  be  made 
to  understand  such  language  as  this  :  God, 
who  lives  in  heaven,  made  us  all ;  he  gave 
mother  her  little  son  that  I  might  take  care 
of  him,  be  kind  to  him,  and  teach  him  to  be 
good.  He  says  little  children  must  obey 
father  and  mother,  and  he  would  be  angry 
with  me  and  punish  me  if  I  allowed  my  boy 
to  be  naughty  and  disobedient.  Such  lan- 
guage firmly  and  kindly  spoken  by  a  parent, 
even  to  a  very  young  child,  and  steadily 
and  consistently  acted  upon,  will  very  soon 
subdue  the  self-will  of  the  most  wayward, 
and  thus  render  future  training  easy  to  both 
parent  and  child. 

Such  was,  in  principle,  the  training  to 
which  we  were  subjected  in  our  early  years. 
Obedience — immediate,  cheerful  obedience, 
and  the  strictest  regard  to  truth,  lay  at  the 
foundation  of  all  our  other  training.  A 
thousand  little  follies,  mistakes,  and  even 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  35 


graver  faults  might  be  passed  over,  but  dis- 
obedience and  falsehood  were  unpardonable. 
Yet  there  was  nothing  of  sternness  or  sever- 
ity in  the  conduct  of  our  parents  towards  us. 
Perhaps  no  mother  ever  lavished  more  fond 
caresses  upon  her  children,  or  exerted  her- 
self more  to  make  their  time  pass  happily, 
and  no  father  was  ever  more  anxious  to 
secure  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  his 
family. 

Pleasantly  did  the  days  and  hours  pass 
over  us,  during  our  residence  in  this  seclu- 
ded spot :  therve  was  no  school  within  reach, 
and  if  there  had,  our  father's  small  income 
would  not  have  allowed  our  education  to  be 
paid  for,  without  greatly  diminishing  the 
comforts  of  the  family ;  therefore,  it  had  to  be 
attended  to  at  home.  One  by  one,  we  used 
to  take  our  place  beside  our  mother,  read  a 
short  lesson,  have  the  larger  words  explain- 
ed to  us,  when  our  mother  would  take  the 
book  and  read  it  over  again  slowly  and  dis- 
tinctly, that  we  might  the  better  understand 
what  we  had  been  reading ;  and  then  we 


36  SKETCH    OF    THE 


were  at  liberty  to  indulge  in  active  and 
healthful  amusement,  or  we  were  engaged 
in  some  useful  and  necessary  employment. 
Four  times  a  day,  usually,  each  of  us  had 
our  short  lesson  ;  and  if  it  be  considered 
that  the  whole  of  the  labour  of  the  house 
devolved  upon  our  mother,  it  will  be  be- 
lieved that  this  could  be  no  light  task  ; 
nothing,  however,  was  allowed  to  interrupt 
our  lessons  :  and  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
to  see  her  busy  at  the  washing-tub  while 
we  by  turns  took  our  place  beside  her  ;  one 
child  would  be  found  attending  to  the  baby, 
another  gathering  sticks  and  keeping  the 
fire  alive,  a  third  engaged  in  reading,  arid 
a  fourth  bringing  water  from  a  pure,  soft 
spring,  at  some  distance  from  the  house  ; 
while  our  eldest  brother  assisted  father  in 
the  garden. 

Our  morning  lesson  was  usually  from  the 
Scriptures,  but  throughout  the  day  from  other 
books.  Our  parents  were,  themselves,  as 
eager  to  obtain  knowledge  as  they  were  anx- 
ious to  impart  it  to  us.  An  hour  was  allowed 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  37 


for  meals  :  when  our  father  came  to  break- 
fast or  dinner,  as  soon  as  the  repast  was 
finished,  (and  a  working  man  in  health  does 
not  usually  loiter  over  his  meals,)  our 
mother  used  to  read  aloud  till  the  hour  was 
finished,  either  with  the  youngest  child 
upon  her  knee,  or,  if  it  was  in  the  cradle, 
knitting  while  she  read.  She  used  to  say, 
that  it  was  disagreeable  and  improper  to  be 
bustling  about  while  father  was  within ; 
and  when  he  was  gone  out,  the  work  must 
be  done  up. 

At  these  times,  books  of  every  kind  that 
came  to  hand  were  read,  unless,  indeed, 
there  was  in  their  language  or  morality 
something  very  bad.  Nor  were  any  of  us, 
so  far  as  I  recollect,  ever  restricted  in  our 
reading  ;  books  of  all  kinds,  which  came 
within  our  reach,  were  free  to  us.  Some 
may  be  disposed  to  condemn  this  laxity,  as 
they  may  consider  it ;  but  with  the  limited 
means  our  parents  possessed  of  purchasing 
books,  and  being  far  distant  from  any  town 
or  village  where  they  might  have  had  a 


38  SKETCH    OF    THE 


choice  from  a  library,  it  was  not  strange 
that  all  that  by  any  means  came  to  hand 
should  be  eagerly  perused :  books  were 
not  then  so  plentiful,  nor  so  various,  as  at 
present. 

Well  do  I  remember  my  brother  finding  a 
torn  leaf  of  a  little  school-book  in  a  bush  in 
the  haugh — it  had  been  caught  there  when 
the  stream  was  swollen  by  heavy  rains. 
What  a  prize  it  was  !  one  by  one,  we  com- 
mitted it  to  memory,  while  stretched  upon 
the  daisied  sward,  during  the  sunny  hours 
of  a  summer  Sabbath-day  ;  and  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  there  is  one  of  the  young  group  who 
then,  learned  the  beautiful  hymn  that  stray 
leaf  contained,  who  does  not  retain  its  sim- 
ple words  indelibly  impressed  upon  the 
memory,  and  feel  in  a  renewed  heart  the 
influences  of  the  blessed  truths  taught  in  its 
lines.  It  was  the  hymn  beginning, 

"  Among  the  deepest  shades  of  night, 
Can  there  be  One  who  sees  my  way  7" 

If  our   parents'    plan   of  reading,    and 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  39 


allowing  us  to  read,  all  that  came  in  the 
way,  had  any  danger  in  it,  it  was  in  our 
case  counteracted  by  the  free  conversation 
about  what  was  read,  which  usually  fol- 
lowed, and  by  the  duty  constantly  incul- 
cated, and  practised  by  themselves,  of 
reading  and  searching  the  Scriptures  as  the 
standard  by  which  every  practice,  principle 
and  opinion,  in  religion  or  moraluy,  must  be 
tested.  We  were  taught  to  view  the  Bible 
as  the  words  of  an  infallible  Teacher,  by 
which  the  instructions  of  every  other  were 
to  be  tried,  and  only  to  be  received  in  so  far 
as  they  were  in  accordance  with  this  heaven- 
descended  guide  :  we  were,  thus  early,  led 
to  analyse  what  we  read,  to  exercise  our 
understandings  upon  whatever  came  in  our 
way,  and  to  receive  nothing  as  truth,  until 
it  had  been  put  to  the  test  of  the  Divine 
word. 

Our  Sabbaths  were  our  happiest  days  ; 
we  were  near  no  place  of  public  worship — 
not  so  near,  at  least,  as  to  permit  any  of  the 
children  often  to  attend.  As  soon  as  we 


40  SKETCH    OF    THE 


were  dressed  and  had  breakfasted,  family 
prayer  was  attended  to,  and  then  our  father 
would  point  out  some  hymn  or  passage  of 
Scripture  which  he  wished  us  to  learn,  when 
we  would  sally  forth,  book  in  hand,  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  one  to  stretch  himself  upon 
the  soft  grass  in  the  field  close  by,  another 
to  pace  backward  and  forward  on  the  plea- 
sure walk,  or  to  find  a  seat  in  the  bough  of 
an  old  bushy  tree  ;  while  another  would 
seek  a  little  summer-house  our  father  had 
made  of  heather,  and  seated  round  with  the 
twisted  boughs  of  the  glossy  birch,  each 
reading  aloud  till  the  allotted  lesson  was 
thoroughly  fixed  upon  our  minds.  If  the 
day  was  wet,  or  if  it  was  the  winter  season, 
we  would  gather  around  the  table  by  the 
window.  During  the  afternoon,  mother 
would  read  to  us,  or  all  of  us,  father  and 
mother  included,  read  by  turns  ;  questions 
were  then  asked,  and  conversation  entered 
into,  about  what  we  had  been  reading. 

It  was  upon  one  of  these  occasions,  when 
some  remarks   made  by  one  of  my  parents 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  43 


in  endeavouring  to  call  our  attention  to  the 
truth  that  we  must  be  changed,  renewed  in 
the  image  of  God  ;  or,  to  take  up  the  simple 
figurative  expression  then  made  use  of,  that 
we  must  have  new  hearts,  else  we  never 
could  be  happy  with  our  Father  in  heaven, 
that  an  impression  was  made  upon  my  mind, 
never  to  be  effaced  :  from  that  hour,  through 
all  my  follies  and  all  my  waywardness,  the 
thought  of  that  new  heart  still  haunted  me, 
until  I  indeed  found  peace  with  God  through 
Jesus  Christ,  and  felt  the  renewing  power 
of  the  truth  of  God. 

Viewing  the  practice  of  allowing  children 
to  consider  their  lessons  as  a  part  of  their 
amusement,  as  pernicious  in  its  tendency, 
as  calculated  to  induce  a  habit  of  trifling 
with  serious  things,  and  to  form  a  giddy, 
frivolous  character,  our  parents  never  per- 
mitted anything  like  levity  in  attending  to 
our  lessons  ;  we  never  were  allowed  to 
consider  them  as  a  recreation,  but  as  serious, 
though  cheerful  employment,  which  must 
never  be  trifled  with,  but  seriously  and  ear- 


44  SKETCH    OF    THE 


nestly  engaged  in.  A  uniform  veneration 
for  the  word  of  God  was  evinced  by  them- 
selves, and  if  we  read  or  repeated  any  part 
of  it,  we  were  taught  to  do  so  seriously  ;  if 
a  hymn  was  recited,  or  any  piece  in  which 
the  name  of  our  Creator  might  occur,  we 
were  accustomed  to  do  so  in  a  solemn  and 
attentive  manner. 

We  had  been  about  six  years  in  this 
place,  when  my  father's  master  died,  and 
his  lady  kindly  recommended  him  to  her 
brother,  who  was  in  want  of  a  gardener. 
We  now  removed  to  the  east  of  Scotland ; 
and  our  dwelling,  until  the  death  of  the 
former  gardener,  who  was  laid  aside  by  age, 
was  two  rooms,  rented  for  us,  in  the  adjoin- 
ing village.  About  two  years  after  our 
arrival,  his  decease  allowed  us  to  remove  to 
what  was  to  us  a  pleasanter  abode,  as  being 
a  little  more  secluded,  but  otherwise  pos- 
sessing little  advantage.  There,  several  of 
us  attended  a  female  school,  supported  by 
the  lady,  for  the  instruction  of  the  children 
of  servants  upon  the  estate. 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  45 


Our  attendance,  from  various  causes,  was 
by  no  means  regular  ;  the  necessity  for  one 
of  us  remaining  at  home,  to  assist  our  mother, 
prevented  regular  attendance,  and  the 
change  from  a  dry  inland  situation,  to  a 
low,  damp  locality,  upon  the  east  coast,  so 
affected  our  health,  that,  for  many  years, 
the  spring  of  the  year  turned  our  dwelling 
almost  into  an  hospital.  The  loss  of  time 
and  expense  incident  upon  sickness,  in  our 
circumstances,  were  keenly  felt ;  however, 
experience  gradually  taught  us  how  to  man- 
age sickness  without  so  much  medical  atten- 
dance as  we  at  first  required.  My  brothers 
procured  employment  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  I  entered  the  house  of  my  father's  mas- 
ter. 

I  had  little  relish  for  the  society  I  was 
thrown  into  in  this  place ;  all  my  habits 
and  pursuits  were  at  entire  variance  with 
what  my  fellow-servants  practised  ;  though 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  had  not  yet  entered 
my  mind — it  was  only  struggling  for  an 
entrance. 


46  SKETCH    OF    THE 


When  I  now  look  back  to  that  period  of 
mental  conflict,  I  am  convinced  that  my 
darkness  and  difficulty  arose,  not  from  any 
mystery  thrown  around  the  beautiful  sim- 
plicity of  the  Gospel  by  my  teachers,  but 
that  I  entertained  a  secret  unwilh'ngness  to 
yield  up  my  own  will,  and  my  own  wishes  ; 
my  heart  was  divided — I  was  striving  to 
serve  God  and  Mammon  ;  the  love  of  the 
world,  and  the  things  of  the  world,  shut  out 
the  light  of  the  glorious  Gospel ;  and  it  was 
not  till  my  heart  was  subdued  by  the  love 
of  God,  till  I  became  willing  to  do,  or  be, 
or  submit  to,  anything  which  God  required, 
that  I  found  peace — then  I  saw  God  as  my 
Father  in  Jesus,  receiving  me  freely,  through 
him  ;  the  burden  of  guilt  was  removed,  and 
I  was  led  in  the  paths  of  obedience  by  love. 

I  had  been  a  few  years  in  my  situation, 
when  my  mother's  health  being  very  much 
impaired,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  return  home. 
There  were  now  ten  of  us,  besides  our 
father  and  mother:  my  eldest  brother  was 
employed  in  the  garden ;  my  second  worked 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  47 


with  a  tradesman  in  the  neighbourhood; 
and  two  of  my  sisters  were  employed  in 
the  family  I  had  left;  while  five  younger 
brothers  and  sisters  were  at  school.  The 
eldest  of  these  was  soon  after  engaged  by 
the  village  teacher  as  his  assistant. 

When  at  home,  our  Sabbaths  were  spent 
much  in  the  same  manner  as  formerly,  only 
we  had  now  the  opportunity  of  attending 
public  worship  ;  and  instead  of  merely  con- 
versing, we  had  begun  to  try  and  commit  our 
thoughts  to  writing.  Our  parents  would 
request  us  to  state  our  reasons  for  certain 
parts  of  our  belief,  or  our  ideas  of  the  mean- 
ing of  certain  passages  of  Scripture ;  we 
would  also,  often  exert  ourselves  to  give 
expression  to  our  thoughts  in  a  verse  or  two 
of  poetry.  At  these  times,  several  of  us 
would  apply  our  minds  to  one  subject,  and 
it  was  interesting  to  observe  the  different 
forms  our  thoughts  would  assume. 

Our  mother's  health  was  re-established, 
and  our  circle  of  acquaintance  widened,  but 
not  much,  for  few  in  the  same  walk  in  life 


48  SKETCH    OF    THE 


as  ourselves  sympathized  with  us  in  our 
pursuits,  and  we  had  as  little  relish  for 
theirs :  our  time  fully  occupied,  we  never 
felt  the  power  of  the  temptations  to  evil  to 
which  young  persons,  in  the  same  circum- 
stances, are  usually  exposed  :  we  had  been 
carefully  taught  in  early  childhood,  that 

"  Satan  finds  some  mischief  still, 
For  idle  hands  to  do;" 

and  idle  empty  hearts,  too,  he  will  fill  with 
sin  and  folly.  I  firmly  believe,  that  the 
only  safety  from  temptation  in  this  world  of 
sin,  in  this  state  of  weakness,  is  to  have  our 
hearts  full  of  the  love  of  God,  our  under- 
standings enlightened  by  the  truth  of  God, 
and  our  hands  actively  engaged  in  whatever 
useful  employment  the  providence  of  God 
places  within  our  reach  ;  never  sighing  over 
our  limited  opportunities  of  doing  good, 
never  repining  that  we  are  not  placed  in 
situations,  and  endowed  with  talents  to  do 
and  suffer  great  things  for  the  cause  of 
Christ,  or  fretting,  because  our  opportu- 
nities of  improvement  are  few  and  small. 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  49 


This  has  been  my  most  besetting  sin,  and 
the  most  powerful  temptation  to  which  I 
have*  been  exposed ;  and,  so  far  as  it  has 
prevailed,  it  has  lessened  my  usefulness, 
and  retarded  my  improvement.  Could  we 
comprehend  how  great  is  the  blessedness 
of  being  permitted  to  be  fellow- workers  with 
God,  we  should  not  thus  trifle  with  the 
opportunities  afforded  us  of  doing  what  we 
can ;  but  feeling  that  we  are  called  to  an 
honour  and  felicity  far  above  anything  we 
can  deserve,  eagerly  seize  the  slightest,  if 
it  be  but  to  whisper  a  word  of  truth  in  the 
ear  of  the  poorest  child,  to  lure  on  and 
assist  some  ignorant  one  to  spell  out  and 
understand  a  passage,  a  phrase,  or  even  a 
word  of  the  book  of  God,  or  even  to  minis- 
ter to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  those 
around  us  in  the  things  of  this  life.  Thus 
our  Father  in  heaven  stooped  to  lavish  kind- 
ness and  care  upon  man's  mortal  frame,  to 
throw  the  sweets  of  summer  at  his  feet,  and 
hang  the  luxuries  of  autumn  overhead,  to 
enamel  the  field,  to  paint  the  flower,  and 


50  SKETCH    OF    THE 


carve  the  leaf;  and  shall  we  disdain  to  lay 
hold  of  every  opportunity  of  ministering  in 
the  slightest  degree,  or  in  the  humblest  way, 
to  the  comfort  and  enjoyment  of  those  around 
us  ?  And  yet  how  often  are  opportunities 
of  doing  small  acts  of  kindness  and  useful- 
ness let  slip,  while  we  are  sighing  over  our 
narrow  sphere  and  our  limited  means  of 
serving  God,  or  benefiting  man  ! 

For  a  considerable  time  our  family  circle 
was  unbroken  ;  however,  by  the  marriage, 
at  different  times,  of  four  members  of  the 
family,  six  only  remained  around  our  parents. 
Sorrow  might  have  had  a  resting-place  in 
the  bosoms  of  some  of  that  family  circle, 
but  to  the  eye  of  lookers-on  they  were  happy 
as  ever.  But  change,  death,  and  sorrow 
were  to  come.  Our  beloved  father  was 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly  removed  from 
among  us,  and  a  long  course  of  illness  in 
the  family  followed  on  his  departure.  Illness 
prevented  for  a  time  our  removal  from  the 
abode  which  had  so  long  sheltered  us,  and 
where  we  had  spent  so  many  happy  days. 


AUTHOR'S  LIFE.  51 


At  this  time,  however,  we  all  recovered  ; 
but  shortly  after  our  removal  to  another 
residence,  five  of  us  were  again  prostrated 
by  fever,  and  our  youngest  sister — our 
gentle,  quiet,  affectionate  sister,  she  who 
lived  but  for  the  happiness  of  those  around 
her — was  removed. 

I  am  now  residing  with  three  sisters  and 
our  youngest  brother,  under  the  roof  of  our 
widowed  mother  ;  other  two  relatives  live 
with  us,  and  I  am  still  engaged  in  my  old 
occupation  of  managing  the  house,  which  I 
have  never  quitted  since  I  returned  on 
account  of  my  mother's  health,  except  for 
about  two  years,  when  I  was  in  the  service 
of  others. 

Many  sources  of  enjoyment  and  comfort 
have  been  removed  ;  but  the  spring  to 
which  our  beloved  and  revered  parents  led 
us  in  our  early  years,  that  fountain  whence 
issued  our  sweetest  and  purest  enjoyments, 
is  still  open  to  us,  even  the  well  of  living 
waters  which  never  can  be  dried  up  ;  and 
though  those  loved  ones  are  departed,  arid 


52          SKETCH  OF  THE   AUTHOR'S  LIFE. 


we  cannot  but  feel  the  loss  of  their  society, 
we  are  happy  in  the  hope  of  soon  meeting 
them,  where  there  are  pleasures  for  ever- 
more. Religion — the  knowledge  of  God — 
has  been  to  us  our  strength  and  our  happi- 
ness, the  source  of  all  we  have  enjoyed 
worth  calling  enjoyment :  it  has  been  the 
sunshine  which,  in  the  hour  of  prosperity, 
has  made  earth  fair  unto  us  as  the  bowers 
of  Eden  ;  and  when  the  darkness  of  adver- 
sity encompassed  us,  it  has  been  the  star 
whose  beaming  indicated  the  approach  of 
the  morning's  brightness. 


of  Imps. 


5* 


THE  PEAKl  OF  DAYS. 


AN  is  not  left,  even  in  this  state 
of  existence,  like  the  lower  ani- 
mals, to  draw  his  chief  happiness  from  the 
indulgence  of  his  appetites,  or  to  be  led  by 
the  blind,  but  unerring  impulse  of  instinct, 


56  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS 


to  his  chief  good.  He  is  endowed  with 
reasoning  powers  and  moral  sentiments, 
which  require  to  be  enlightened  and  exer- 
cised, in  order  to  their  proper  direction 
and  healthful  development.  His  happi- 
ness is  as  inseparably  connected  with  the 
cultivation  and  exercise  of  the  faculties 
of  his  mind,  as  it  is  with  the  healthful  de- 
velopment and  proper  exercise  of  his  bodily 
organs.  We  meet  with  abundant  proof 
of  this  in  the  state  of  savage  tribes,  who 
shelter  themselves  in  clay-built  hovels,  wrap 
themselves  in  the  skins  of  beasts,  and 
obtain  a  precarious  subsistence  from  the 
scanty  produce  of  the  uncultivated  ground, 
or  the  flesh  of  wild  animals.  If  we  compare 
their  means  of  sustaining  life,  their  sources 
of  enjoyment,  their  religious  worship,  their 
daily  habits,  and  their  daily  labours,  in  a 
word,  their  whole  state,  with  the  state  of  a 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  57 


civilized  and  enlightened  community — even 
could  we  bring  ourselves  to  look  upon  man 
as  merely  an  intelligent  and  improvable 
animal,  formed  exclusively  for  this  present 
life — we  are  irresistibly  led  to  the  conclusion, 
that  whatever  tends  to  elevate  or  refine  his 
nature,  to  give  to  his  reasoning  faculties  and 
his  moral  sentiments  a  controlling  power  over 
his  appetites  and  propensities,  is  of  vast 
importance  to  his  well-being.  It  guards 
him  from  evils  to  which,  while  his  animal 
nature  is  left  without  due  restraint  from  his 
higher  faculties  and  sentiments,  he  is  ex- 
posed, opens  to  him  sources  of  enjoyment, 
and  discovers  supplies,  of  which,  while  his 
intellectual  nature  is  uncultivated,  he  is  in- 
capable of  availing  himself. 

The  labour  to  which,  in  the  present  state 
of  society,  the  majority  of  the  working 
population  of  our  country  is  subjected,  in 


58  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


order  to  obtain  their  subsistence,  is  of  that 
incessant  and  tasking  nature,  which,  when 
the  daily  hours  of  toil  are  closed,  leaves  the 
system  too  much  exhausted  for  mental  appli- 
cation or  intellectual  enjoyment.  Hence, 
among  those  of  the  labouring  classes  who 
are  not  led  by  religious  principle  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  opportunities  for  self-im- 
provement which  the  weekly  rest  affords,  we 
find,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  low 
and  degrading  pursuits  the  principal  sources 
of  their  amusement ;  while,  their  highest  en- 
joyments are  derived  from  the  gratification  of 
their  appetites  and  propensities.  Nor  is  this 
strange  ;  no  one  who  has  for  any  considerable 
length  of  time  been  subjected  to  severe  and 
unremitting  toil,  whose  employment  called 
for  the  exertion  of  his  muscular  power 
till  real  fatigue  ensued,  will  deny,  that, 
while  in  such  a  state,  man  is  equally  in- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  59 


capable  of  availing  himself  of  the  more 
refined  pleasure  of  social  intercourse,  or  of 
the  improvement  to  be  derived  from  mental 
application  ;  that  the  craving  is  for  animal 
gratification,  or  nervous  excitement ;  and  that 
a  continued  routine  of  such  labour,  without 
the  seventh-day  rest,  would  soon  sink  the 
labouring  population  into  a  condition  worse 
than  that  of  absolute  barbarism.  This  is  no 
merely  speculative  theory  ;  we  have  only  to 
enter  into  social  intercourse  with  those 
around  us,  to  meet  with  more  than  abundant 
proofs  of  its  reality. 

Were  it  possible,  then,  to  view  man  as 
only  formed  for  this  world — as  a  mere  link 
in  the  chain  of  causation — doing  his  little 
part,  enjoying  his  brief  existence,  and  then 
reduced  again  to  his  original  elements,  pass- 
ing away  alike  forgetting  and  forgotten  ;  and 
were  we  to  regard  the  Sabbath  as  merely 


60  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


a  civil  institution,  the  appointment  of  human 
government ;  even  thus  separated  from  all  its 
religious  relations,  it  would,  were  it  possible 
for  man  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of  God, 
to  improve  the  opportunities  afforded  by 
it,  confer  benefits  upon  working  men  which 
they  could  not  otherwise  obtain.  The  Sab- 
bath limits,  to  some  extent,  the  power  of 
employers,  whom  selfishness  and  avarice, 
in  not  a  few  instances,  have  rendered 
alike  regardless  of  the  comfort  and  the 
health  of  their  servants  ;  and  secures  to  those 
whose  daily  avocations  require  thsir  absence 
from  the  family  circle,  the  pleasures  and  the 
comforts  of  home  ;  the  softening  and  refin- 
ing influence  of  family  relations  and  do- 
mestic intercourse.  Its  rest  refreshes  and 
invigorates  the  physical  constitution,  and 
affords  time  to  apply  the  mind  to  the  attain- 
ment of  useful  knowledge  :  it  ought  there- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  61 


fore  to  command  the  respect  of  all  who  are 
sincerely  desirous  of  promoting  the  improve- 
ment of  the  working  population. 

But  it  is  impossible  thus  to  regard  man. 
Man  has  a  spiritual,  never-dying,  as  surely 
as  he  has  an  animal  and  mortal  nature,  which 
act  and  re-act  upon  each  other,  so  that  the 
well-being  of  the  one  is  essential  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  other.  He,  therefore,  who 
would  confine  man's  views  to  this  world, 
and  limit  his  endeavours  after  happiness  to 
the  present  life,  snatches  from  him,  along 
with  the  Hopes  of  the  future,  the  riches  of 
the  present.  Debarred  from  his  Father's 
house  and  his  Father's  table,  he  will  soon 
be  wallowing  in  the  mire  of  ignorance  and 
vice,  and  feeding  on  the  husks  of  sensual 
indulgence.  He  who  chains  man  to  con- 
tinuous and  unremitting  exertion  of  his 
physical  system,  unfits  his  mind  for  activity, 


62  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 

and  degrades  him  to  a  condition  little  above 
that  of  a  beast  of  burden.  The  Sabbath, 
then,  must  be  viewed  in  its  relation  to  every 
part  of  man's  nature,  in  its  influence  upon 
him  as  a  whole,  before  we  can  fully  appre- 
ciate even  the  merely  temporal  benefits  it  is 
calculated  to  confer  upon  the  human  family. 
Some  have  said,  that  another  arrangement 
would  be  more  beneficial, — that,  were  more 
time  for  repose  allotted  to  each  day  without 
a  Sabbath,  the  purposes  of  Sabbath  rest 
would  be  more  fully  attained.  Were  the 
Sabbath  a  human  institution,  appointed  by 
earthly  legislators,  for  purposes  relating  to 
this  life,  this  point  might  be  open  to  discus- 
sion. As  it  is  not  the  institution  of  man,  how- 
ever, but  that  of  our  all-wise  Creator,  I  shall 
merely  ask  those  who  advocate  such  a 
change,  how  they  propose  to  bring  it  about? 
and  how  preserve  it,  when  once  obtained  ?  Is 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  63 


it  not  that  the  Sabbath  claims  to  be  an  institu- 
tion of  Heaven,  and  thus  laying  hold  of  man's 
conscience,  ensures  attention  to  its  demands 
from  all  who  fear  God  and  tremble  at  his 
word — is  it  not  its  appearing  in  this  char- 
acter which  secures  to  it  any  degree  of  atten- 
tion and  respect  from  society  ?  It  is  the 
influences  of  the  Sabbath  which  will  yet 
introduce  a  better  regulated  system  of  labour 
during  the  week  ;  and  he  who  would  abolish 
it  as  a  step  towards  such  an  improvement, 
flings  away  the  most  safe  and  certain  means 
of  accomplishing  his  object. 

It  is  only  by  the  advancement  of  the 
labouring  classes  themselves  in  intelligence 
arid  civilization,  that  any  really  important  or 
beneficial  change  can  ever  take  place  in  the 
regulation  of  labour ;  but  even  were  such  a 
change  effected,  were  the  hours  of  daily  toil 
considerably  shortened,  would  there  not  still 


64  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


be  abundant  room  for  a  Sabbath  ?  How  are 
the  moral  and  intellectual  character,  the 
tastes  and  habits  of  working  men  to  be 
elevated,  without  the  opportunities  and  the 
influences  of  this  institution  ? 

He  who  would  abolish  the  Sabbath,  and  dis- 
tribute its  hours  among  the  days  of  the  week, 
that  he  might  increase  the  comfort,  and  im- 
prove the  character  and  the  condition  of 
working  men,  would  act  as  a  builder  would 
do,  who  should  dig  up  the  foundations  of  a 
house,  that  he  might  obtain  materials  where- 
with to  finish  its  upper  story.  Religion,  like 
the  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  it  emanates, 
bestows  abundance  of  blessings  upon  many 
who  know  not  the  bounteous  Hand  from 
whence  they  come ;  and  the  Sabbath,  one 
of  its  most  glorious  and  beneficent  institu- 
tions, confers  numerous  benefits  even  upon 
that  portion  of  society  who,  trifling  with  its 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  65 


sacred  obligations,  and  spurning  its  salutary 
restraints,  fail  to  reap  from  it  that  amount 
of  good  which  it  is  so  well  calculated  to  afford 
them. 

We  can  form  no  just  estimate  of  what  the 
condition  and  circumstances  of  the  human 
race  would  have  been,  if  left  entirely  destitute 
of  religion,  from  our  intercourse  with  those 
who,  though  perversely  refusing  submission 
to  its  government,  have,  while  their  being 
was  dawning,  their  mind  and  habits  forming, 
been  surrounded  by  its  light  and  influences, 
and  who,  in  their  childhood  and  youth,  have 
partaken  largely  of  the  blessings  which  this 
heaven-bestowed  institution,  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  affords.  No ;  it  is  only  from  the 
condition  and  character  of  those  tribes  of 
mankind  who  have  little  or  no  vestige  of 
revelation  among  them,  that  we  are  enabled 
to  form  a  correct  idea  of  what  our  state 

6* 


66  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


would  have  been,  had  the  pure  light  of 
Christianity  never  dawned  upon  us.  So,  in 
like  manner,  in  judging  of  the  importance 
of  this  Divine  institution,  we  must  compare 
the  condition  and  the  habits  of  a  labouring 
population  who  have  never  known  a  Sab- 
bath, whose  bodies  the  Sabbath  rest  has 
never  refreshed,  and  whose  minds  Sabbath 
instruction  and  Sabbath  exercise  have,  to  no 
extent,  strengthened  or  cultivated,  awakened 
or  enlightened.  We  must  compare  their 
character  and  condition,  their  hearths  and 
homes,  with  the  hearths  and  homes,  the  state 
and  character,  not  of  the  mere  Sabbath 
sleeper,  or  Sabbath  dresser,  or  even  of  the 
mere  church  attender  or  sermon  hearer,  but 
of  those  who,  with  activity  and  energy,  avail 
themselves  of  all  the  opportunities  of  self- 
improvement  and  family  culture  which  the 
Christian  Sabbath  is  so  well  fitted  to  afford, 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  67 


before  We  can  have  any  correct  idea  of  even 
the  merely  temporal  benefits  which  the  Sab- 
bath is  calculated  to  confer  upon  the  labour- 
ing population,  or  of  the  immense  loss  its 
discontinuance  would  prove  to  the  temporal 
interests  of  society. 

Even  as  a  cessation  from  labour,  as  a  rest 
to  the  worn-out  frame,  the  Sabbath  is  no 
trifling  boon  to  the  bowed-down  sons  of  toil. 
When  we  look  upon  it  merely  as  a  day  on 
which  the  most  toil-worn  drudge  unchidden 
may  stretch  his  wearied  limbs  upon  the  couch 
of  rest ;  whereon  the  most  dusty,  sweaty,  dirt- 
smeared  endurer  of  the  consequences  of  man's 
transgression  may  wash  himself  clean,  dress 
genteelly,  and  enjoy  the  society  of  his  fellow- 
men  ;  a  day  when  he,  who,  during  the 
six  days  of  labour,  must  eat  his  dry,  cold, 
hurried,  and  comfortless  dinner  alone,  can  sit 
in  leisure  and  comfort,  in  the  society  of  be- 


68  THE    P^ARL    OF    DAYS. 


loved  relatives,  with  the  clean,  shining,  glad 
faces  of  his  little  ones  around  him,  and  his 
wife,  clean  and  neat,  as  upon  her  bridal-day, 
by  his  side,  and  enjoy  his  neatly-prepared, 
though  homely,  repast ;  a  day  when  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  early  forced,  by  necessity, 
from  the  parental  roof,  to  seek  a  hard-earned 
subsistence  elsewhere,  may  weekly  enjoy 
each  other's  society  amid  the  blessed  influ- 
ences of  the  home  of  their  childhood — the 
Sabbath,  though  looked  upon  as  bestowing 
only  privileges  like  these  upon  working 
men,  must  command  the  respect  of  every 
enlightened  and  philanthropic  mind.  But 
when  viewed  as  a  day  in  which  all  this  is 
associated  with  the  hallowed  influences  of 
religion — in  which  man  enjoys  the  pleasures 
of  social  intercourse  blended  with,  and  ele- 
vated by,  the  most  sacred  and  purifying 
associations — in  which  the  body  enjoys 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  69 


repose,  not  only  that  the  mind  may  be  fitted 
for  exertion,  but  that  it  may  engage  in  the 
study  of  subjects  supremely  important  to  man, 
that  it  may  apply  itself  to  the  contemplation 
of  themes  the  most  sublime  and  interest- 
ing— a  day  in  which  men  not  only  meet  to- 
gether that  they  may  be  instructed,  strength- 
ened, and  refined,  by  intercourse  with  each 
other,  that  mind  may  have  communion  with 
mind,  and  heart  with  heart ;  but  in  which 
they  are  invited  to  meet  with  God  himself; 
that  their  minds  may  have  communion  with 
His  mind,  and  their  hearts  with  His  heart ; 
that  they  may  be  instructed,  strengthened, 
and  refined, by  the  wisdom  and  love  of  God ; 
that  they  may  be  moulded  in  His  image,  and 
renewed  in  His  likeness  ; — it  seems  strange 
that  any  one  who  believes  man  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  a  moral  and  intellectual  nature, 
capable  of  improvement,  should  set  light  by, 


70  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


or  trifle  with,  such  an  institution ;  and  pass- 
ing strange,  that  those  who  name  the  name 
of  Christ,  who  profess  to  be  His  followers 
who  emphatically  taught  that  the  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man,  should  despise  such  a 
privilege,  fling  away  its  hallowed  restraints, 
and  disregard  its  sacred  obligations. 

It  needs  but  a  glance  at  the  toilsome  life 
of  our  rural  or  our  manufacturing  population, 
to  convince  any  one  that  the  Sabbath,  viewed 
merely  in  relation  to  man's  temporal  well- 
being,  is  of  great  value  to  the  working  man. 
The  important  influence  which  the  frequent 
return  of  such  a  day,  with  all  its  cheering 
and  inspiriting  exercises  and  associations, 
must  have  upon  the  health  of  those  who 
observe  it,  is  not  to  be  overlooked.  The 
wearied  frame  is  refreshed  and  invigorated, 
the  depressed  spirits  enlivened,  and  the  flag- 
ging energy  restored  ; — while  its  public 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  71 


observances  call  for  such  attention  to  per- 
sonal appearance  as  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
beneficial  effect  at  once  upon  the  habits  and 
the  constitution,  as  also  to  form  a  strong 
inducement  to  exertion  for  the  improvement 
of  their  condition.  Hence  it  is,  that,  when 
we  enter  the  house  of  the  church-going, 
Sabbath-keeping  labourer,  we  generally  find 
a  marked  difference  between  hand  the  home 
of  him  who  rarely  or  never  enters  a  place 
of  worship,  and  who  regards  not  the  sacred 
claims  of  the  day. 

In  the  house  of  the  Sabbath-observing, 
church-attending  labourer — even  though,  as 
is  too  often  the  case,  he  should  know  little  or 
nothing  of  the  vital  power  of  religion,  though 
his  observance  be  mere  outward  observance, 
and  his  religion  but  form — we  observe  useful, 
though  sometimes  rude  furniture,  clothing, 
and  food,  cleanliness  and  comfort,  a  cheerful 


72  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


fire  on  the  hearth,  and  a  few  books  on  the 
shelf;  every  thing  indicating  some  little  relish 
for  the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  civilized 
life. 

On  Saturday  evening,  there  is  washing 
of  little  faces,  combing  and  brushing  of 
flaxen  heads,  laying  out  of  clean  little  frocks 
and  pinafores,  or  jet  black  shoes  set  ready 
for  little  feet,  that,  without  hurry  or  confu- 
sion, clean  and  neat,  they  may  be  ready  on 
Sabbath  morning  to  accompany  father  or 
mother,  or,  if  possible,  both,  to  the  place 

"  Where  Christians  meet  to  praise  and  pray, 
To  hear  of  heaven,  and  learn  the  way ;" 

or  that  they  may  trip  joyously  to  their  be- 
loved Sabbath-school,  there  to  sing  of  that 
happy  land  where  every  eye  is  bright,  ofthat 
glorious  city,  the  streets  of  which  are  of  pure 
gold,  where  the  water  of  life  is  continually 
flowing  in  a  broad  river,  clear  as  crystal,  from 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  73 


the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  into 
which  nothing  that  defileth  can  enter,  neither 
whatsoever  loveth  or  maketh  a  lie  ;  to  learn, 
that  to  depart  from  evil  is  the  highway  to 
those  blessed  mansions  of  love,  and  joy,  and 
life  everlasting — that  that  highway  is  called 
holiness  ;  and  to  be  told,  in  childhood's  own 
simple  language,  of  the  love  of  Him  who  is 
himself  the  way,  for  he  shall  save  his  people 
from  their  sins  ;  how  he  said,  "  Suffer  little 
children  to  come  unto  me,"  and  took  them 
up  in  his  arms,  and  blessed  them ;  how, 
when  they  have  journeyed  along  the  rugged 
path  of  this  toilsome  life,  those  that  come 
unto  God  by  him  shall  never  again  taste  of 
death  or  sorrow,  pain  or  disease ;  for  the 
Lamb,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne, 
shall  feed  them,  and  lead  them  to  living 
fountains  of  waters,  and  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes. 


74  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


What  do  we  find  in  the  place  of  all  this, 
in  the  home,  and  among  the  children  of 
the  working  man  who  profanes  the  sacred 
hours  of  the  Sabbath  ?  Squalor  and  wretch- 
edness force  themselves  upon  our  observa- 
tion. The  appearance  of  the  house  and  its 
inmates  tell,  in  language  not  to  be  mistaken, 
what  would  be  the  condition  of  working  men, 
were  this  blessed  day,  with  all  its  exalting 
and  purifying  influences,  set  aside.  How 
often,  on  Saturday  night,  are  the  children 
tossed  into  bed  unwashed  and  uncombed, 

while  the  mother  puts  their  few  rags  of 

• 
clothing  in  the  washing-tub,  and  then  hangs 

them  up  by  the  dusty  hearth,  that  they  may 
be  dry  in  the  morning  !  Even  this  little 
attention  to  cleanliness,  partial  as  it  is,  is 
of  some  benefit,  and  the  benefit,  so  far  as 
it  goes,  is  from  the  Sabbath  ;  for,  were  it 
not  for  that  regard  to  appearance,  and  those 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  77 


ideas  of  decency  which  the  public  observ- 
ances of  the  Sabbath  have  introduced,  the 
skin  and  the  clothing  of  the  working  man 
and  his  children  would  seldom  indeed  oe 
subjected  to  the  refreshing  and  purifying 
process  of  washing. 

Of  the  truth  of  this,  did  the  limits  of  this 
little  essay  permit,  or  did  the  time  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  writer  allow  of  such 
researches,  I  venture  to  affirm  that  abundant 
evidence  could  be  presented  from  the  state 
and  habits,  in  regard  to  personal  cleanliness, 
of  the  labouring  population  of  any  country 
where  the  Sabbath  is  disregarded,  as  com- 
pared with  the  condition  and  habits  of  the 
same  class  in  countries  where  the  Sabbath 
is  observed  as  a  day  of  public  assembly  for 
religious  worship  ;  or  from  the  habits  of  the 
lower  classes  of  our  own,  or  of  any  other 
country,  before  the  introduction  of  the  Chris- 

7* 


78  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


tian  Sabbath,  as  compared  with  their  habits 
in  this  respect,  after  the  Sabbath  has  been  for 
some  time  received  and  regarded  among 
them,  as  at  once  a  day  of  cessation  from  ordi- 
nary labour,  and  a  season  for  public  religious 
observances.  And  if  the  important  influence 
which  cleanliness  has  upon  health  and  com- 
fort be  taken  into  account,  the  improve- 
ment of  their  habits  in  this  respect  will 
be  allowed  to  be  no  trifling  advantage 
resulting  from  the  Sabbath  to  the  labouring 
population. 

But  to  return  to  the  family  where  the 
Sabbath  is  not  regarded  as  a  day  sacred  to 
the  worship  of  God  :  how  frequently  do  we 
find  the  father,  with  his  equally  reckless  com- 
panions, taking  on  Saturday  evening  his  seat 
in  the  house  of  the  spirit-dealer,  there  to 
waste,  in  the  gratification  of  his  debased  and 
depraved  appetite,  his  hard-earned  wages  ! 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  79 


But  what  need  to  describe  the  Sabbath  hours 
of  such  a  family  ?  Who  that  has  been  at  all 
conversant  with  the  labouring  population  of 
this  country,  but  has  witnessed  the  comfort- 
less and  fretful  confusion  of  the  morning  ? 
while  the  succeeding  hours  are  devoted  to 
the  preparation  of  the  noonday  meal,  the  one 
great  feast  of  the  week ;  and,  perchance,  the 
fields,  the  public  promenade,  or  a  trip  by 
railway  to  some  place  of  public  resort,  is  the 
occupation  of  the  evening.  And  thus  are 
all  the  rich  opportunities  which  such  a  day 
affords  for  self-improvement  and  family 
culture,  trampled  under  foot.  And  what  is 
the  condition  of  the  children  of  such  parents  ? 
Do  they  not  grow  up  in  ignorance  and  vice, 
in  utter  neglect,  unless,  indeed,  tliey  are 
gathered  together  for  Sabbath  instruction  by 
the  enlightened  and  benevolent,  who  would 
seek  to  do  what  in  them  lies  to  rescue  their 


80  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


fellow-creatures  from  ignorance  and  degrada- 
tion ?  This,  however,  will  but  slightly  supply 
the  want  of  the  fireside  instruction  of  a  Sab- 
bath-keeping family  ;  and  is  it  likely  that 
these  children  will  ever  attain  to  that  degree 
of  mental  culture,  or  be  governed  by  those 
moral  principles  which  would  enable  them 
to  obtain  an  equal  standing  in  society  with 
the  children  of  those  who  conscientiously 
observe  the  Lord's-day  ?  Let  those  who 
think  so,  enter  the  house  of  him  who  keeps 
holy  the  Lord's-day,  and  the  home  of  the 
Sabbath-breaker  ;  let  them  converse  with 
their  children,  observe  their  habits,  and  then 
answer.  Those  who  feel  inclined  to  trifle 
with  the  sacred  obligations  of  this  day  would 
do  well  to  consider,  ere  they  slight  its  bene- 
ficial restraints,  what  a  blessed  privilege  they 
fling  away — what  a  glorious  birthright  they 
would  barter  for  less  than  a  mess  of  pottage  ! 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  81 


A  birthright,  the  due  appreciation  and  the 
proper  use  of  which  would  soon  enable 
them  to  cast  off  that  yoke  of  bondage,  those 
servile  feelings,  with  which  the  working 
classes  too  often  regard  their  superiors  in 
circumstances  ;  would  enable  them  to  stand 
erect  and  unabashed  in  the  presence  of  their 
fellow-man,  whatever  his  wealth  or  rank,  as 
brother  in  the  presence  of  brother ;  would  give 
them  power  of  their  own  minds — a  conscience 
illuminated  by  the  light  of  heaven,  and  un- 
fettered by  subjection  to  man..  Moreover,  if 
the  imbecility  of  mind,  the  consequent  limit- 
ation of  resource,  and  liability  to  become 
the  dupes  of  imposture,  the  tools  of  crafty, 
selfish,  and  unprincipled  men,  be  considered, 
which  usually  result  from  the  dependence  of 
one  class  of  men  upon  the  mind  and  will  of 
another  class,  this  will  appear  to  be  no  mean 
advantage,  as  regards  temporal  condition, 


82  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS 


which  the  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath 
is  calculated  to  confer  upon  the  labouring 
population.  For  proof  that  such  happy 
results  do  invariably  follow  the  introduction 
of  the  Sabbath  among  the  working  classes,  in 
proportion  to  its  proper  observance,  we  have 
only  to  glance  at  the  character  and  condition 
of  the  people  in  countries  where  the  Sabbath 
is,  in  some  measure,  rightly  understood  and 
observed,  as  compared  with  the  state  of  the 
people  in  lands  where  the  Lord's  day  is 
unknown,  or  devoted  to  mere  amusement. 

The  rest  of  the  Sabbath  is  invaluable  to 
the  labourer  who  is  desirous  of  cultivating 
his  own  mind  by  study,  of  strengthening 
and  gaining  the  control  of  his  intellectual 
powers,  or  of  increasing  his  stock  of  know- 
ledge by  reading.  When  he  returns  from 
his  daily  labour,  to  enjoy  his  brief  hour  of 
leisure  in  the  evening,  his  system  is  too  much 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  83 


exhausted  by  his  previous  exertion,  and,  con- 
sequently, his  animal  spirits  too  much  de- 
pressed, for  close  application  of  mind  or 
energy  of  thought.  If  he  attempt  to  peruse 
any  really  serious  and  useful  author,  he  not 
unfrequently  falls  asleep  with  the  J3ook  in 
his  hand.  The  lighter  pages  ofLjhe  novelist, 
with  their  intellectual  intoxication,  and  too 
often  pernicious  views  of  human  life  and 
human  nature,  may  be  able,  by  their  excite- 
ment, to  overcome,  for  a  time,  his  fatigue  ; 
and,  therefore,  if  he  reads  at  all,  for  these, 
the  works  of  the  natural  and  moral  philoso- 
pher, of  the  historian,  the  moralist,  and  the 
theologian,  are  laid  aside  ;  and  thus  his  moral 
and  intellectual  nature,  not  receiving  whole- 
some food  or  healthful  exercise,  becomes 
weak  and  diseased,  and  unfitted  to  fulfil  the 
offices  of  enlightening  him  ;  his  passions  and 
appetites,  unrestrained  by  an  enlightened 


84  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


conscience  and  cultivated  understanding, 
lead  him  captive  at  their  will ;  and  his  whole 
character  and  condition  strikingly  prove,  that, 
as  a  general  rule,  the  degradation  of  one  part 
of  man's  nature  is  the  degradation  of  the 
whole. 

Is  his  temporal  condition  abject,  his  body 
subjected  to  unremitting  toil  ? — his  intellect- 
ual condition,  too,  is  debased,  and  his  mind 
enslaved.  Is  his  intellect  uncultivated,  and 
his  moral  nature  vitiated  ? — his  outward  ap- 
pearance* and  condition  are  degraded,  rude, 
and  comfortless.  The  Sabbath,  by  the  repose 
it  affords,  not  only  renews  man's  physical 
energy,  renovates  his  animal  system,  it  also 
qualifies  his  mind  to  apply  itself  to  self-culture 
and  to  the  acquisition  of  solid  and  useful 
knowledge.  Nor  does  it  stop  here — it  leaves 


*  This  is  strikingly  verified  by  LAVATER,  in  his  celebrated 
work  on  Physiognomy. — ED. 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  85 


him  not  unaided  and  unguided  to  grope  in 
darkness  for  the  knowledge  which  is  essential 
to  his  well-being  ;  it  pours  upon  his  path  a 
flood  of  light,  opens  wide  the  gate  of  know- 
ledge, and  bids  him  enter.  It  leaves  him  not 
to  mope  alone  over  the  dreamy  speculations 
of  sceptical  philosophers  who  have  attained 
to  no  belief,  who  have  no  certainty  or  know- 
ledge, but  have  chosen  their  perpetual  abode 
in  those  gloomy  regions  of  darkness  where 
the  dense  fogs  of  doubt  are  for  ever  settled, 
till  his  mental  energy  is  exhausted  and  his 
mind  unhinged.  No  ;  it  calls  him  forth  in 
exulting  joy  to  seek  the  society  of  his  fellow- 
men,  that  mind  may  awaken  and  strengthen 
mind,  and  heart  warm  heart — that  they  may 
ponder  together  the  meaning  of  facts — facts 
attested  by  incontrovertible  evidence — facts 
the  most  sublime  and  interesting  that  have 
ever  engaged  the  attention  of  man.  It  calls 

8 


86  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


men  together  to  study,  in  each  other's  society, 
a  system  of  morality  pure  and  perfect, 
founded  upon  these  facts.  It  furnishes  him 
with  subjects  surpassingly  glorious,  in  the 
contemplation  of  which  he  may  exert  and 
cultivate  his  intellectual  powers.  It  inspires 
him  with  hopes  which  give  him  fortitude  to 
endure  the  unavoidable  evils  of  his  condition, 
and  energy  to  surmount  its  difficulties.  Yes, 
the  Lord's  day,  with  its  communion  with  God, 
its  memorials,  its  exercises,  its  instructions, 
and  its  social  intercourse,  ever  as  it  returns 
gives  a  fresh  impulse  to  human  advance- 
ment. It  is,  truly,  a  fountain  whence  spring 
innumerable  benefits. 

Not  only  does  each  returning  Sabbath  give 
a  new  and  powerful  impetus  to  man's  ad- 
vancement in  his  heavenward  course  ;  but  in 
so  doing,  it  urges  him  onward  and  upward  in 
civilization,  refinement  and  comfort. 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  87 


A  day  of  rest,  of  cessation  from  active  and 
toilsome  exertion,  is,  doubtless,  as  minister- 
ing to  the  health  and  vigour  of  the  animal 
system,  of  immense  value  to  working  men. 
I  have  no  hesitation,  however,  in  affirming, 
that,  amongst  those  who  view  it  in  no  other 
light  than  as  a  day  of  rest  and  recreation, 
as  a  season  set  apart  to  no  higher  purpose 
than  that  of  refreshing  and  invigorating  the 
body,  it  generally  fails  of  accomplishing 
even  this  :  they  almost  invariably  devote  the 
day  to  the  service  of  their  divers  lusts  and 
pleasures,  while  the  neglected  appearance  of 
their  families,  and  the  jaded  and  abused  state 
of  their  bodies,  wofully  testify  to  the  degrad- 
ing effects  of  misusing  its  hallowed  hours ; 
and  clearly  demonstrate,  that  it  is  "  the  Sab- 
bath of  the  Lord,"  the  Lord's  day  alone,  as 
appointed  by  himself,  which  is  really  calcula- 
ted to  benefit  mankind,  and  not  a  day  of  man's 


88  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


devising.  And  why  ?  Because  the  Sabbath- 
day  is  appointed  by  our  all-wise  Creator, 
by  Him  who  knoweth  what  is  in  man,  and 
what  is  needful  for  man.  And  it  is  exactly 
suited  to  man — it  meets  the  wants  at  once 
of  his  physical  and  intellectual  constitution, 
and  of  his  social  and  spiritual  nature.  He 
who  wears  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fares 
sumptuously  every  day,  whose  hand  has 
never  been  hardened,  nor  his  brow  moistened 
by  toil,  whose  every  day  makes  him  the 
companion  and  instructor  of  his  family,  and 
who,  fresh  and  unwearied,  can  seat  himself 
in  his  quiet  study,  and  enjoy  his  daily  re- 
turning hours  of  leisure,  may  slight  the 
obligations  of  the  Sabbath,  and  break  loose 
from  its  restraints,  without,  in  the  eye  of  his 
fellow-man,  appearing  to  suffer  in  mind, 
character,  or  condition.  But  on  him  whose 
daily  returning  wants  call  for  strenuous  and 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  89 


incessant  exertion,  that  they  may  obtain  a 
needful  supply,  the  abuse  of  Sabbath  hours 
is  soon  visible  in  a  beggared  and  degraded 
mind,  a  depraved  moral  character,  and  a 
consequently  degraded  condition  in  society  ; 
in  squalid,  untrained  children,  and  a  com- 
fortless home  ;  and  not  unfrequently,  in  ab- 
solute want  of  the  very  necessaries  of  life. 

It  might  easily  be  shown,  that,  among  the 
numerous  advantages  which  the  weekly  rest 
affords  the  working  man,  is  this,  namely,  that 
it  gives  him  its  rest,  without  diminishing,  in 
any  degree,  his  means  of  subsistence  and 
comfort.  By  preventing  the  seventh  day 
from  being  brought  into  the  labour  market,  it 
enables  him  to  procure  a  remuneration  for 
six  days'  labour  equal  to  that  which,  were 
there  no  such  day,  he  would  be  able  to  obtain 
for  seven.  Although  those  who  degrade  the 
Sabbath  from  its  place  as  a  religious  institu- 


90  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


tion,  to  a  day  of  mere  bodily  rest  and  recrea- 
tion, enjoy  this  advantage  in  common  with 
him  who  regards  the  day  in  its  proper  char- 
acter, as  a  day  set  apart  for  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God  and  the  study  of  his  word  ;  yet, 
they  are  generally  by  far  his  inferiors  in  com- 
fort and  independence.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  find  them,  while  actually  engaged  in 
some  kind  of  employment  which  brings  high- 
er wages  than  the  occupation  followed  by 
their  neighbour  obtains,  before  the  close  of 
the  week  begging  or  borrowing  from  him  the 
necessaries  of  life.  Few  will  have  mingled 
much  among  labouring  men  and  their  fami- 
lies, without  meeting  with  many  instances 
of  this  kind,  all  demonstrating  the  truth  of 
what  has  already  been  advanced,  that  it  is 
the  Christian  Sabbath,  observed  as  appointed 
by  our  Lord  himself,  that  can  ever  really 
improve  even  the  temporal  character  of  the 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  91 


labourer,  and  that  no  human  institution 
ever  can  supply  its  place,  or  have  the  same 
beneficial  influence  upon  society. 

To  the  husband  and  father,  whose  family 
require  his  daily  labour  for  their  support,  and 
who  is  anxious  to  impart  to  them  that  instruc- 
tion which  is  so  necessary  to  the  perfect  and 
healthful  development  of  their  mental  powers, 
the  Sabbath  is  of  inestimable  value.  Dearly 
as  he  loves  to  meet  the  joyous  welcome  of 
his  little  ones  upon  his  return  from  his 
day's  labour,  pleasant  as  it  is  for  him  to 
enjoy  their  childish  prattle,  while  they  are 
seated  together  around  the  evening  fire,  yet, 
having  just  returned,  exhausted  by  a  day  of 
toil,  while  they  climb  his  knee,  and  chat 
over  the  little  adventures  of  the  day,  they  are 
more  to  him  as  playthings,  than  as  beings 
the  training  of  whose  minds  and  habits 
for  after  life  is  entrusted  to  him.  This, 


92  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 

during  the  six  days  of  labour,  devolves, 
almost  exclusively,  upon  the  mother,  or,  as 
is  too  often  the  case,  it  is  utterly  neglected, 
because  it  requires  the  most  incessant  and 
laborious  exertions  of  both  father  and  mother 
to  enable  them  to  obtain  a  subsistence  for 
themselves  and  their  offspring  ;  and  were  it 
not  for  the  weekly  return  of  Sabbath-rest, 
and  its  opportunities  for  improvement,  they 
would  grow  up  untrained,  as  the  wild  ass's 
colt.  But  the  Sabbath  places  the  Christian 
father  refreshed  and  vigorous  in  the  midst  of 
his  family,  his  mind  enlightened  and  enrich- 
ed by  its  instruction,  and  his  feelings  soothed 
by  its  devotional  exercises  ;  thus  fitting  him 
to  impart  instruction,  in  a  manner  at  once  cal- 
culated to  reach  the  understandings  and  win 
the  hearts  of  his  little  ones. 

What  a  delightful  scene  of  tranquil  enjoy- 
ment is  to  be  met  with  in  the  family  of 


I 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  95 


the  labourer  where  the  Sabbath  is  properly 
appreciated  and  actively  improved  !  Ha.s 
the  reader  ever  spent  a  Lord's  day  in  such 
a  family  ?  has  he  seen  the  children,  awaking 
from  the  light  slumbers  of  the  morning, 
glance  round  on  the  more  than  usual  order, 
cleanliness  and  quiet  of  the  humble  apart- 
ment, and  then  ask,  Mother,  what  day  is 
this  ?  and  heard  the  reply,  This  is  the  Sab- 
bath, the  best  of  all  days,  the  day  which 
God  has  blessed  !  Has  he  seen  their  father 
dandling  the  baby,  till  their  mother  should 
finish  dressing  the  elder  children,  and  then, 
when  all  were  ready,  heard  the  little  circle 
join  in  the  sweet  morning  hymn,  and  seen 
them  kneel  together,  while  their  father  offered 
up  a  simple,  but  heart-felt  thanksgiving  for 
life,  health,  and  reason  preserved,  through  the 
toils  of  another  week  ;  and  for  the  privilege 
of  being  again  all  permitted  to  enjoy,  in  each 


96  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 

other's  society,  the  blessed  light  of  the  first 
day  of  the  week  ;  that  morning-light  which 
brings  to  mind  an  empty  grave,  and  a  risen 
Saviour  ;  those  peaceful  hours  which,  undis- 
turbed by  the  labour,  hurry,  and  anxieties  of 
the  week,  they  can  devote  to  the  advance- 
ment of  that  spiritual  life  in  their  souls, 
which  shall  outlive  the  destruction  of  death 
itself?  Has  he  heard  the  words  of  prayer, 
the  questions  of  the  father,  and  the  replies  of 
the  children  ;  and  has  he  not  felt  assured 
that  the  mind-awakening  influences  of  such 
subjects  of  thought,  and  such  exercises,  would 
be  seen  in  the  after  years  of  these  children  ? 
Or,  has  he,  on  their  return  from  the 
meeting-place  of  Christians,  witnessed  their 
afternoon  and  evening  employments  ?  Has 
he  seen  the  eager  and  intelligent  expression 
of  those  young  faces,  as  the  beautiful 
story  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren  was  read 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  97 


aloud  to  them  ;  or  that  of  Daniel  cast  into 
the  lions'  den  ;  or  how  the  servants  of  the 
living  God  walked  unhurt  in  the  midst  of 
the  fire,  whilst  its  flame  slew  those  men 
who  cast  them  in  ;  or  the  narrative  of  the 
wandering  prodigal,  wretched  and  despised 
in  a  foreign  land,  whilst  the  meanest  of  his 
father's  servants  were  living  in  abundance 
and  comfort?  Has  he  heard  their  voices, 
each  low  but  earnest ;  and  then  listened  to 
the  reading  of  the  Word  of  God  ?  heard  the 
reciting  by  turn,  some  beautiful  hymns,  or 
reading  some  interesting  chapter,  or  engaged 
in  conversation  familiar  and  pleasant,  though 
serious  and  instructive ;  children  asking 
questions -of  parents,  and  parents  of  chil- 
dren, concerning  what  they  have  been  hear- 
ing and  reading  during  the  day  ?  And  is  not 
he  who  has  been  the  spectator  of  all  this,  con- 
vinced, that  such  a  day  is  to  the  labourer 


98  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


and  his  children,  an  inheritance  of  surpass- 
ing value ;  that  it  is  weekly  adding  a  fresh 
impulse  to  their  progress  in  improvement, 
and  preparing  them  to  take  advantage  of 
whatever  opportunities  the  week  may  afford? 
Will  not  the  Sabbaths  of  their  childhood 
leave  an  impression  upon  their  future  years, 
which  will  never  be  effaced ;  an  impress 
of  superiority  in  intelligence  and  morality, 
and  a  consequent  superiority  in  circumr 
stances  ? 

One  important  advantage  which  is  con- 
nected with  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
day,  among  the  labouring  population,  is  the 
influence  which  it  has  in  elevating  the  mind, 
character  and  condition  of  the  female  portion 
of  the  community  ?  Where  Christianity  and 
its  weekly  rest  are  unknown,  the  condition 
of  woman  is  abject  in  the  extreme  ;  but  the 
religion  of  Jesus  raises  her  from  her  degraded 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  99 


situation,  by  calling  her  forward  to  engage  in 
the  exercises,  share  the  instructions,  and 
receive  the  influences  of  its  Sabbath.  The 
Lord's  day  calls  her  thinking  powers  into 
action,  gives  her  a  mind  and  conscience  of 
her  own,  cultivates  her  intellectual  and  moral 
nature,  and  gives  her  to  man  a  helpmate 
indeed,  fitted  to  become,  not  merely  his  slave 
or  his  toy,  but  the  companion  of  his  labours 
and  his  studies,  his  devoted  friend,  arid  his 
faithful  and  judicious  adviser;  not  merely 
the  mother  and  nurse  of  his  children,  but 
their  intelligent  instructor  and  guide — his 
most  efficient  assistant  in  their  intellectual 
and  moral  training.  And  if  we  consider  the 
influence  which  the  training  that  man  re- 
ceives in  his  early  years  has  upon  his  char- 
acter in  after  life — that,  for  the  most  part,  in 
the  families  of  working  men,  infancy  arid 
childhood  are  spent  in  the  society  of  the 


100  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


mother,  and  therefore  the  impressions  by 
which  the  character  is,  in  a  great  measure, 
formed,  are  made  by  her,  we  shall  feel  con- 
vinced that  the  cultivation  of  the  female  mind 
and  character  must  have  an  incalculable  in- 
fluence upon  the  condition  of  the  labouring 
population. 

It  were  worth  ascertaining,  how  many  of 
those  who  have  risen  up  from  among  the 
labouring  population  to  adorn  and  bless 
humanity  by  their  talents  and  their  philan- 
thropy, to  enlighten  and  benefit  society  by 
useful  and  important  discoveries  in  art  and 
science,  or  by  patient  persevering  labour  to 
advance  mankind  in  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence— how  many  of  these  had  their  minds 
awakened  to  activity,  and  their  principles 
formed,  by  the  instructions  which  hard- 
working parents  were  enabled  to  give  them 
upon  the  Lord's  day,  the  only  time  they 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  101 


could  devote  to  such  a  purpose.  And  would 
it  not  shed  a  fearful  light  upon  this  subject, 
could  we  possess  ourselves  of  the  history  of 
the  early  Sabbaths  of  those  who  have  made 
themselves  notorious  by  their  crimes  ;  or  of 
those,  who,  having  sunk  themselves  deep  in 
moral  pollution,  have  destroyed  themselves, 
degraded  humanity,  and  cursed  society  by 
their  vices  ?  Would  not  such  records  give 
startling  evidence  of  the  ruinous  effects  re- 
sulting from  the  abuse  of  the  weekly  rest, 
and  clearly  demonstrate  the  truth  of  what  has 
been  already  advanced,  that,  were  the  Sab- 
bath abolished,  or  given  to  working  men  as  a 
day  of  mere  bodily  refreshment  and  recrea- 
tion, and  not  as  a  religious  institution,  they 
would  soon  be  reduced  to  a  condition  worse 
than  that  of  the  untaught  savage  V 

Yes  ;  man  is  equally  liable  to  degenerate 
as    he    is  capable    of  improvement — more 

9* 


102  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


so,  for  he  must  be  aroused,  urge4  forward, 
forced  on  almost  against  his  will :  to  take 
the  downward  path  of  degeneracy,  he  needs 
only  to  be  left  unmolested  to  choose  his  own 
way. 

Are  there  those  who  deny  this — who  look 
upon  man  as  not  a  fallen  and  depraved 
being,  shorn  of  the  glory  of  his  primeval  ex- 
cellency, ever  liable  to  sink  lower  and  de- 
generate farther,  unless  influences  from  with- 
out reach  him — but  as  a  being  who  has 
raised  himself  by  the  unaided  exercise  of  the 
powers  of  his  own  mind,  from  a  condition 
little  above  that  of  the  brute  creation,  to  his 
present  state  ?  I  ask  them  but  to  survey  the 
page  of  human  history,  to  become  convinced 
of  the  absurdity  of  such  an  idea.  Can  they 
point  to  the  records  of  any  tribe  of  the 
human  family  which,  from  a  condition  of 
rude  barbarism,  and  shut  out  from  all  inter- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  103 


course  with  civilized  nations,  has  ever  raised 
itself  above  such  a  state  ?*  They  cannot — it 
has  uniformly  been  the  entrance  of  the  mis- 
sionar}r,  the  trader,  the  emigrant,  from  more 
enlightened  and  civilized  nations,  which  has 
changed  the  condition  of  such  a  people. 

Had  it  been  as  they  say,  had  man  been 
formed  the  being  they  represent  him,  and 
had  the  voice  of  God  never  reached  his  ear, 
bad  no  celestial  visitant  ever  arrived  upon 
our  planet,  man  had  never  risen  one  step 
above  his  first  condition.  If,  then,  as  the 
history  of  mankind  abundantly  proves,  reli- 
gion founded  upon  revelation  be  the  only 
really  efficient  means  by  which  man  can  be 
raised  to  that  state  of  perfection  he  is  capable 


*  Such  as  desire  further  information  on  this  important 
point,  may  obtain  it,  at  a  very  small  expense  of  time  and 
labour,  by  consulting  Dr.  Doig's  "  Three  Letters  on  the 
Savage  State"  addressed  to  Lord  Kames. — ED." 


104  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


of  attaining  ;  if,  as  we  trace  the  progress  of 
Christianity  among  the  nations,  we  find  an 
advancement  in  civilization  following  in  her 
footsteps,  and  an  amelioration  of  the  social 
condition  of  the  people  marking  her  progress, 
may  we  not  reasonably  attribute  to  her 
seventh-day  rest  all  the  temporal  blessings 
which,  as  she  advances,  she  is  conferring 
upon  the  labouring  population  ?  And  would 
not  the  abolition  of  this  institution,  or  the 
appropriation  of  Sabbath  hours  to  other  than 
their  proper  use,  be  effectively  to  exclude 
those  who  obtain  their  daily  bread  by  the 
labour  of  their  hands,  from  a  participation  in 
the  benefits  which  the  knowledge  of  revela- 
tion confers  upon  man  ?  No  more  effectual 
step  could  be  taken  towards  the  demoraliza- 
tion, I  had  almost  said  the  brutalization,  of  the 
labouring  population,  than  that  of  inducing 
them  to  look  upon  it  as  a  mere  human  holi- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  105 


day,  which  may  be  occupied  in  any  way 
fancy  may  dictate.  Barbarous  and  degrading 
sports,  bull-baiting,  cock-fighting,  and  such 
like  ;  drunkenness,  revelry,  and  riot,  would, 
with  fearful  rapidity,  take  the  place  of  the 
solemn  assembly. 

He  who  would  seek  to  enslave  and  degrade 
the  working  man,  could  not  more  effectually 
accomplish  his  object,  than  by  persuading 
him  to  regard  and  occupy  the  Sabbath  as 
a  day  which  he  might  spend  in  amusement. 
Were  the  Lord's  day  blotted  out,  or  spent 
in  mere  recreation — were  the  sons  of  toil 
no  more  to  enjoy  or  avail  themselves  of 
its  rich  provisions  for  their  instruction  and 
elevation — not  only  should  we  soon  see 
religion  disregarded,  that  blessed  light  of 
heaven,  that  sunshine  of  the  sky  which  is 
chasing  the  shadows  of  ignorance,  and  dissi- 
pating the  mists  of  error  and  superstition  ; 


106  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


which  is  awakening  man  to  spiritual  life, 
arousing  to  healthful  activity  in  him  all  the 
springs  of  'moral  feeling  and  intellectual 
energy  ;  not  only  would  this  morning  beam 
be  shut  out  from  the  sons  of  toil,  those  glad 
tidings  which  Jesus  so  frequently  preached 
to  the  poor  in  the  weekly  assembly  upon  the 
Sabbath-day,  be  put  without  the  reach  of 
working  men — but  we  should  soon  see  them 
deprived  of  those  civil  institutions  which 
secure  to  them  personal  liberty,  and  de- 
graded to  a  condition  of  mere  vassalage. 

Let  no  one  be  startled  when  I  affirm 
that  it  is  the  Sabbath  which  has  bestowed 
upon  the  labouring  population  the  civil 
privileges  they  enjoy,  and  raised  them  to 
the  position  they  occupy  ;  that  it  is  the 
Lord's  day  which  is  the  great,  the  ever- 
lasting bulwark  of  human  freedom.  It  is 
that  moral  force  which  intelligence  and  vir- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  107 


tue  bestow  upon  a  people,  which  unlooses 
effectually  the  iron  grasp  of  the  oppressor  ; 
which  makes  their  voice  heard  clearly  and 
distinctly  in  the  legislation  of  their  country, 
and  blots  pernicious,  partial,  and  unjust 
laws  out  of  the  statute-book ;  and  it  is,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  the  knowledge  of  God 
obtained  from  revelation,  which  awakens 
man's  dormant  powers  of  mind,  which  leads 
him  onward  and  upward  in  virtue  and  intel- 
ligence. 

Deprive  religion  of  its  weekly  rest,  and 
by  what  means  is  it  to  gain  access  to  the 
ears  and  to  the  understandings  of  work- 
ing men,  and  their  children  ?  When  is  it 
to  pour  its  light  into  their  minds,  and  the 
influence  of  devotion  into  their  hearts  ? 
When  shall  the  labourer  study  the  book  of 
God,  or  working  men  gather  together  to  hear, 
not  the  teachings  of  erring  man,  but,  with  the 


108  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


Scriptures  of  truth  in  their  hands,  to  listen 
to  the  voice  of  that  infallible  Wisdom  which 
was  with  God  when  he  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  earth  ?  Shall  it  be  after  a  day  of  labo- 
rious exertion  has  rendered  them  unfit,  by 
exhaustion,  for  the  close  application  of  their 
minds  to  any  serious  study  ?  Alas  for  the 
advancement  of  the  labouring  portion  of 
the  community  in  intelligence  and  morality  ! 
Alas  for  the  refinement  of  manners,  and  the 
cultivation  of  mind  among  them,  if  it  is  to 
be  left  to  such  seasons !  So  absolutely 
essential  to  the  well-being  of  man  does  the 
Sabbath  appear,  whether  viewed  in  rela- 
tion to  his  eternal  or  his  temporal  interests, 
that,  could  we  suppose  it  possible  for  man, 
destitute  of  the  weekly  rest,  to  become  con- 
scious of  the  wants  of  his  own  nature,  we 
should  conclude  that  he  would  have  insti- 
tuted, of  his  own  accord,  a  Sabbath  for  him- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  109 


I 


self.  Those  who,  either  for  worldly  gain  or 
the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  profane  the  sacred 
hours  of  Sabbath  rest,  are  not  only  despis- 
ing one  of  the  most  important  institutions 
of  religion,  but  they  are  doing  what  in  them 
lies  to  undermine  one  of  the  most  enduring 
defences  of  human  liberty. 

He  who  would  take  from  the  working  man 
his  Sabbath,  would  take  with  it  the  mind- 
awakening  influence  of  religion ;  would  keep 
the  gate  of  knowledge,  and  forbid  his  en- 
trance ;  would  throw  an  impassable  barrier 
in  the  way  of  his  progress  in  civilization,  and 
leave  him  the  slave  of  the  despot,  the  tool  of 
the  crafty  politician,  and  the  follower  of  the 
superstitious  zealot,  or  the  religious  impostor. 

Let  those,  then,  who  would  seek  to  transmit 
to  their  children  that  liberty  and  those  rights 
for  which  their; fathers  have  struggled  and 
bled,  rear  them  amidst  Sabbath  influences, 

10 


[110        THE  PEARL  OF  DAYS. 

fill  their  minds  with  those  subjects  for  the 
study  of  which  the  weekly  rest  was  insti- 
tuted, and  accustom  them  to  Sabbath  exer- 
cises ;  and,  most  assuredly,  they  will  rise 
above  the  oppression  of  the  tyrant,  see 
through  the  devices  of  the  crafty,  the  sub- 
tlety of  the  sophist,  and  the  deceit  of  the 
impostor. 

All  the  efforts  which  have  ever  been  made 
by  the  rude  arnr  of  physical  force,  to  rescue 
mankind  from  oppression,  have  been  utterly 
futile  ;  and  if  any  one  will  survey  the  state 
of  the  nations  at  the  present  moment,  he  will 
find  the  liberty  and  the  privileges  enjoyed 
by  the  people,  to  be  exactly  proportioned  to 
the  extent  to  which  general  intelligence  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  word  of  God  are  dif- 
fused among  them.  What  has  the  sword  ever 
effected  for  the  redemption  of  mankind  from 
tyranny  ?  It  may  have  wrenched  power  from 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  Ill 


the  hand  of  one  party,  but  it  has  only  been 
to  give  it  into  the  hand  of  another  equally 
liable  to  abuse  it.  Has  it  been  torn  from  the 
hand  of  a  lawless  and  merciless  despot  ?  It 
has  been  given  into  the  hands  of  an  insolent 
and  brutal  soldiery,  or  a  superstitious  mob, 
who  soon  trampled  under  foot  that  liberty 
which  had  been  purchased  for  them  with  the 
blood  of  their  brethren.  Every  revolution 
which  has  been  effected  by  violence,  affords 
proof  of  this. 

It  has  been  the  blood  of  the  martyr— the 
patient  endurance  and  unshaken  fortitude 
of  him  who  would  rather  yield  up  liberty 
and  life  itself,  than  deny  the  truth — the 
peaceable,  but  persevering  and  indefatiga- 
ble missionary,  whose  exertions  have  been 
devoted  to  the  spread  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  among  men,  who,  by  introducing  reli- 
gion and  its  Sabbath,  and  bringing  man  into 


112  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


intercourse  with  his  God,  the  great  Lord 
of  all,  to  whom  all  are  equally  responsible, 
the  governed  and  the  governor,  the  subject 
and  the  prince,  the  servant  and  his  master ; 
and  thus,  by  awakening  in  men  a  sense  of 
their  personal  responsibility,  has  aroused 
their  minds  to  activity.  It  is  the  knowledge 
of  their  responsibility — of  the  great  truth 
that  all  must  stand  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ,  to  give,  each  one,  an  account  of 
the  deeds  done  in  the  body — which  causes 
men  to  think  and  act  for  themselves,  and 
thus  raises  them  above  the  subtlety  and 
power  of  selfishness  and  ambition. 

Although  the  Sabbath  comes  laden  with 
blessings  for  the  sons  of  men,  yet  let  it  never 
be  forgotten,  that  he  only  whom  the  truth  has 
made  free,  he  who  has  left  the  service  of  sin, 
to  become  the  Lord's  free  man,  doing  the  will 
of  God  from  the  heart,  can  fully  appreciate 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  113 


or  enjoy,  not  only  its  spiritual,  but  even  its 
merely  temporal  blessings.  He  who  has 
never  tasted  that  God  is  good,  who  has  never 
in  joyful  confidence  committed  the  salvation 
of  his  soul  into  the  hand  of  Jesus,  will  but 
abuse  its  benefits,  neglect  its  duties,  and 
despise  its  privileges. 

How  often  does  Monday  morning  give 
painful  evidence  of  the  total  uselessness  of 
the  weekly  rest  to  those  who  look  upon  it 
merely  as  a  day  of  rest  from  toil,  and  a  sea- 
son for  recreation  !  Even  the  rest  they  talk 
of  is  thrown  away,  and  they  are  jaded  and 
exhausted  by  folly  and  intemperance.  Mon- 
day finds  them  scarce  fit  for  the  labour  of  the 
day  :  instead  of  the  animal  system  being 
refreshed  and  health  improved,  the  body 
is  abused,  and  disease  engendered ;  while 
among  those  who,  though  knowing  nothing 
of  the  living  power  of  religion,  yet  influ- 

10* 


114  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


enced  by  the  customs  and  opinions  of  soci- 
ety around  them,  show  no  small  regard 
for  the  Sabbath,  how  often  are  its  blessed 
influences  almost  entirely  buried  under- 
neath the  rubbish  of  mere  ceremonial  sanc- 
tity !  No  wonder,  if  childhood,  sternly 
commanded  to  assume  the  serious  gravity 
of  age,  through  the  long,  weary,  empty 
hours  of  an  inactive  Sabbath,  should  imbibe 
a  deep-rooted  dislike  to  religion  and  its  Sab- 
bath. No  wonder,  if,  in  families  where  it  is 
thus  observed,  the  minds  of  the  young  should 
become  disaffected  to  that  religion,  of  which 
such  an  empty,  gloomy  institution  is  viewed 
as  a  part ;  that,  having  received  such  a  false 
idea  of  religion,  they  should  plunge  head- 
long into  the  pleasures,  follies,  and  vices  of 
the  world,  thinking  that  such  lifeless  and 
gloomy  exercises  will  better  suit  the  weak- 
ness and  infirmity  of  age,  than  the  fresh 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  115 

and  buoyant  activity  of  youth ;  and  thus 
reap  the  results  of  an  irregular  and  intem- 
perate life,  in  a  shattered  constitution  and 
depraved  character.  No  wonder,  if  youth, 
coming  forth  from  the  bosom  of  such  fami- 
lies, should  be  easily  deluded  by  sophistry, 
and,  caught  in  the  snares  of  scepticism, 
should  step  into  the  ranks  of  unbelievers, 
or  sink  to  the  fate  of  the  criminal  and  the 
vicious. 

He  who  blessed  the  seventh  day  and 
sanctified  it,  never  meant  that  that  day, 
whose  first  morning  beam  fell  upon  the  joyful 
activity  of  a  new  and  perfect  creation ;  whose 
dawning  light  saw  the  Son  of  man  arise 
triumphant  over  death  and  the  grave,  should 
be  spent  in  listless,  motionless  silence,  or  in 
soulless,  meaningless  ceremony.  No;  holy 
its  hours  indeed  are,  sanctified,  set  apart ; 
not  however  to  solemn,  gloomy,  lifeless  inac- 


116  THE    PEARL    OF   DAYS. 


tivity ;  but  hallowed  to  rest  and  refreshment, 
sacred  to  joy,  set  a/  art  to  active,  cheerful, 
and  strenuous  exertion  for  the  improvement 
of  ourselves  and  others  in  holiness,  virtue, 
and  intelligence.  Doubtless,  thousands  who 
have  never  felt  the  power  of  the  truth  in  an 
awakened  conscience  and  a  renewed  heart, 
are  reaping  many  and  important  benefits 
from  the  Lord's-day,  in  the  more  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  the  advancement 
of  civilization,  besides  the  comfortable  rest 
and  refreshment  it  affords  their  bodies.  But 
they  can  only  to  a  limited  extent  enjoy  the 
beneficial  influence  of  the  weekly  rest, 
whether  viewed  as  increasing  their  enjoy- 
ment in  this  present  life,  or  as  fitting  them 
for  happiness  hereafter. 

While,  then,  considering  it  of  the  utmost 
importance,  that  this  day  should  be  pre- 
served from  the  encroachments  of  labour 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  117 


and  amusement,  that  working  men  should 
be  protected  by  the  law  of  their  country  in 
the  observance  of  it,  and  regarding  it  as  of 
paramount  importance,  that  it  be  preserved 
in  its  unimpaired  sanctity  as  the  birthright  of 
every  Briton, — I  would  earnestly,  solemnly, 
and  affectionately,  urge  upon  the  attention  of 
those  who,  seeking  the  improvement  of  the 
temporal  condition  of  the  labouring  popula- 
tion of  our  country,  and  aware  of  the  pow- 
erful influence  which  a  proper  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  would  have  in  effecting  their 
elevation,  are  endeavouring  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  legislature  to  tho,  subject, — that, 
here,  legal  enactments  can  do  but  little ;  they 
may  put  down,  to  some  extent,  the  more 
public  and  glaring  forms  of  Sabbath  profa- 
nation, but  this  will  only  increase  the 
amount  of  secret  desecration.  Those  who 
have  no  heart  for  the  proper  observance  of 


118  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


this  day,  may  be  prevented  from  spending 
it  in  certain  kinds  of  labour  or  amuse- 
ment, railway  travelling,  pleasure  excur- 
sions, and  such  like  :  by  being  prevented 
from  enjoying  themselves  in  such  pursuits, 
however,  they  will  be  driven  into  the  secret 
haunts  of  dissipation  and  vice ;  and  thus, 
although  it  is  no  doubt  well,  that,  where 
wickedness  cannot  be  eradicated,  it  should 
be  made  ashamed  to  show  its  head,  yet  com- 
paratively little  good  can  be  effected  by  the 
civil  ruler,  in  promoting  the  cause  of  Sab- 
bath observance.  I  would  entreat  them  to 
bear  in  mind,  that  it  is  only  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  imparting  spiritual  life,  implanting 
moral  principle,  bringing  the  will  of  man  into 
subjection  to  the  will  of  his  Creator,  and 
awakening  the  intellect,  that  can  enable  man 
to  reap  that  full  harvest  of  temporal  good 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  119 


from  the  weekly  rest  which  it  is  so  well 
fitted  to  afford  him. 

-J  Let,  then,  all  who  would  see  man 
redeemed  from  ignorance  and  slavery, 
vice  and  degradation — all  who  would  see 
the  working  man  refined  in  manners  and 
elevated  in  character  and  condition,  exert 
their  utmost  energy  in  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  in  the  education  of  youth,  but 
above  all,  in  calling  the  attention  of  men  to 
Divine  truth,  to  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation ; 
and  for  this  purpose  let  them  rejoice  in,  and 
employ  the  Sabbath  as  connected  with  reli- 
gion, as  affording  time  for  spreading  abroad 
the  knowledge  of  God  :  this  is  the  lever 
which  is  to  lift  man  from  the  degradation  of 
the  fall,  and  make  him  fit  to  be  the  inhabitant 
of  a  new  earth,  wherein  all  the  evils  which 
at  present  surround  him  shall  be  unknown. 
What  varied  agencies  is  not  the  Sabbath 


120  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


calling  into  operation,  to  press  forward  and 
give  fresh  impulse  to  the  onward  movement ! 
Not  only  is  the  stolid  mind  of  the  untaught 
workman  aroused,  impelling  motive  and  un- 
tiring energy  imparted,  to  carry  him  on  in  the 
upward  path  of  self-improvement ;  but  the 
sympathies  of  his  nature  are  also  awakened, 
and,  looking  on  the  moral  and  intellectual 
degradation,  and  the  physical  wretchedness 
around  him,  his  heart  is  yearning  over  his 
fellow-men,  and  the  weekly  rest  affording 
him  time,  he  is  stretching  out  the  hand  of  a 
brother  to  those  who  are  sunk  in  ignorance 
and  vice,  he  is  pointing  the  upward  path, 
and  stimulating  to  the  upward  movement. 
See  that  young  man,  whose  daily  earnings, 
perchance,  are  needful,  not  merely  for  his 
own  support,  but  it  may  be,  for  the 
support  of  aged  parents,  or  of  young  and 
helpless  brothers  and  sisters  ;  the  circum- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  121 


stances  of  whose  early  years  had  prevented 
his  enjoying  more  than  the  limited  advan- 
tages of  a  common  grammar-school  educa- 
tion, or,  perhaps,  not  even  allowed  of  his 
receiving  so  much  as  a  common  school  edu- 
cation, but  whose  knowledge  has  been 
picked  up  in  Sabbath  classes,  or  at  the 
fireside  of  hard-working  parents,  whose 
straitened  circumstances  required  that  even 
in  his  boyhood  he  should  strain  every  nerve 
to  assist  them  in  supplying,  by  his  labour, 
the  wants  of  a  young  and  numerous  family  : 
he  is  not  only  walking  steadfastly  and  firmly 
himself  in  the  path  of  improvement,  but 
taking  the  lead,  and  urging  on  his  fellow- 
men,  devoting  his  little  hour  of  Sabbath 
rest,  and  Sabbath  leisure,  not  to  mere 
repose,  or  sensual  indulgence,  but  gather- 
ing his  fellow-men  around  him  that  he  may 
reason  with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures,  or 

11 


122  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


calling  together,  for  instruction,  a  class  of 
ragged,  untrained  children,  or  wending  his 
way  to  yonder  wretched  garret,  or  that  damp 
cellar,  where  want,  disease,  and  vice  have 
taken  up  their  abode  together,  that  he  may 
ascertain  why  that  squalid  child  was  absent 
from  the  Sabbath-school  class,  and  drop  a 
word  of  encouragement  to  the  boy,  or  address 
a  word  of  warning  and  entreaty  to  the  parent's. 
Who  has  not  felt  convinced,  on  viewing 
scenes  like  these,  agencies  like  these  called 
into  operation,  that  it  is  the  weekly  rest 
in  the  hands  of  living,  active  religion,  which 
is  destined  to  reach  the  very  lowest  depths  of 
society,  to  lift  humanity  from  the  degrading 
pollutions  of  vice,  and  from  the  servile  de- 
pendence and  helplessness  of  ignorance  ; 
and  that  to  take  from  the  children  of  toil 
the  Lord's-day,  were  to  take  from  them  at 
once  the  means  of  self-improvement,  and 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  123 


also    the    opportunity   of    doing    anything 
towards  the  improvement  of  others? 

Let  those,  then,  who  seek  the  elevation 
and  refinement  of  the  labouring  population, 
do  all  that  in  them  lies  to  spread  among 
them  the  knowledge  of  true  religion  and  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath.  Science  may 
advance,  art  and  philosophy  instruct  those 
who  have  means  and  leisure  for  their  study  ; 
but  of  what  avail  would  they  ever  become 
to  labouring  men,  did  not  Religion  by  her 
Sabbath  open  up  the  way  for  them  ?  Yes  ; 
Christianity  is  the  pioneer,  and  they  follow 
in  its  footsteps.  Besides,  what  is  man, 
with  his  moral  nature  unimproved  ?  His 
intellect  may  be  powerful  and  highly  culti- 
vated ;  he  may  be  learned  in  art  and  sci- 
ence, acquainted  with  all  the  properties  of 
matter,  and  with  every  system  of  philosophy, 
ancient  and  modern  ;  he  may  be  capable  of 


124  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


bringing  creation,  animate  and  inanimate, 
into  subserviency  to  his  pleasure  and  con- 
venience ;  the  lightnings  of  heaven  may,  at 
his  bidding,  fly  with  his  message  ;  and  the 
hidden  treasures  of  the  earth  may  come  forth 
to  the  light  of  day  :  at  the  command  of  art 
and  science,  starting  into  motion,  he  may  be 
conveyed  almost  with  the  rapidity  of  thought, 
to  his  desired  destination ;  fire,  water,  and 
air,  may  accomplish  his  labour  for  him  ;  but, 
if  his  religious  feelings  are  dormant  or  mis- 
directed, or  if  his  moral  nature  is  depraved, 
he  is  but  the  more  capacitated  to  spread 
destruction  and  misery  around  him  ;  to  be 
miserable  in  himself,  and  a  curse  and  a 
scourge  to  mankind.  He  can  use,  with  more 
ability,  the  subtlety  and  the  arts  of  the 
impostor ;  he  can,  with  more  dexterity,  forge 
or  use  weapons  of  war,  or  set  armies  in  bat- 
tle array  ;  or  he  may  be  a  more  able  and 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  125 


dangerous  leader  in  riot  and  insurrection  ; 
a  more  dexterous  highwayman,  robber,  or 
assassin ;  but,  without  the  cultivation  of 
his  moral  nature  by  religion,  he  is  neither 
fitted  to  receive  happiness  himself,  nor  im- 
part it  to  others. 

Religion  not  only  awakens  and  culti- 
vates man's  intellect,  it  also  subdues  and 
governs  his  animal  propensities,  exalts  and 
refines  his  moral  feelings,  and  by  doing  so, 
redeems  him  from  much  present  suffering, 
and  opens  to  him  inexhaustible  treasures  of 
enjoyment  in  himself  and  others,  impelling 
him  to  exert  all  the  energies  of  his  nature, 
not  in  seeking  merely  his  own,  but  in  securing 
the  well-being  of  his  fellow-men,  making  him 
more  willing  to  impart  than  to  exact,  more 
yielding  than  commanding,  more  ready,  to 
bear  with,  than  to  claim  forbearance — in  a 
word,  writing  upon  his  heart,  in  living  char- 

11* 


126  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


acters,  the  truth  that  it  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive,  and  thus  putting  an  end 
to  all  strife,  emulation,  broils,  and  discord, 
and  war  in  every  form,  with  all  its  attendant 
miseries. 

Yes ;  let  those  who  long  for  that  blissful 
period  when  men  shall  be  united  in  one 
universal  brotherhood  ;  when  peace  shall 
make  her  dwelling  among  them,  and  good- 
will fill  every  heart ;  when  the  reward  of 
the  husbandman's  toil — the  yellow  fields  of 
waving  grain — shall  no  more  be  trampled 
beneath  the  hoof  of  the  war-horse,  nor  his 
hard-won  earnings  wrung  from  his  hand,  to 
keep  in  repair  the  machinery  of  war — when 
men  shall  no  more  study  the  art  of  destroying 
each  other,  but  shall  beat  their  swords  into 
ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning- 
hooks  ;  let  those  who  long  for,  and  labour 
to  introduce  this  happy  era,  see  in  the  Sab- 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  127 


bath  the  oil  which  is  to  still  the  waves  of 
human  strife — in  its  memorials,  its  influences, 
its  exercises,  the  links  of  that  chain  of  love, 
which  is  yet  to  bind  heart  to  heart,  from 
one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other,  and  en- 
circle the  whole  with  an  unbroken  and  ever- 
lasting bond  of  union. 

When  men  meet  together  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  to  break  bread,  to  surround  the 
table  of  their  Lord,  to  pass  from  hand  to 
hand  the  cup  of  blessing,  to  hear  the  words 
and  study  the  character  of  Him  who,  when 
he  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again  ;  when 
he  suffered,  threatened  not,  but  committed 
himself  to  Him  who  judgeth  righteously  ; 
when  they,  as  the  children  of  that  God  who 
is  by  his  love  manifested  in  the  gift  of  his 
well-beloved  Son,  subduing  the  enmity  of 
his  enemies  and  reconciling  them  to  himself, 
meet  thus  together  on  the  first  day  of  the 


128  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


week,  not  to  hear  the  voice  of  a  human 
orator,  nor  to  attend  to  the  words  of  a  falli- 
ble instructor,  but  to  gather  around  the 
Scriptures  of  truth,  the  word  of  the  living 
and  true  God,  to  learn  his  will,  that  with 
willing  and  ready  feet,  they  may  run  in  the 
way  of  his  commandments ;  when  they 
study  his  character,  as  he  there  reveals 
himself,  that  their  moral  nature  may  become 
assimilated  to  his,  that  they  may  be  like 
their  Father  in  heaven,  who  maketh  his  sun 
to  shine  upon  the  evil  and  the  good  ;  what 
must  be  the  result  ?  Who  will  hesitate  to 
say,  were  working  men  all  to  meet  weekly, 
thus  to  keep  the  Lord's-day  .as  appointed 
by  Himself,  that  soon  the  oppressor  would 
cease  out  of  the  land  ;  that  intemperance, 
ignorance,  vice  of  all  kinds,  with  all  the 
poverty,  disease,  and  wretchedness,  inse- 
parably connected  with  them,  would  be  for 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  129 


ever  banished  ;  and  peace,  descending  from 
the  skies,  whither  sin  had  caused  her  to  take 
her  flight,  again  dwell  with  redeemed  man? 

And  ever  as  we  approach  nearer  and  near- 
er to  such  a  use  of  the  weekly  rest ;  and  ever 
as  the  circle  widens  of  those  who  feel  it  not 
their  duty  only,  but  their  dearest,  choicest 
privilege,  thus  to  spend  and  enjoy  this  day — 
do  we  approach  more  nearly  to  the  long-pre- 
dicted age  of  milennial  glory,  to  the  dawn  of 
the  great  Sabbath  of  the  world,  that  Sabbath 
of  rest  from  sin  and  suffering,  strife  and 
oppression,  when  the  Lord  himself  shall 
judge  the  nations  in  righteousness,  when  the 
lofty  looks  of  man  shall  be  humbled,  and  the 
haughtiness  of  man  shall  be  brought  low, 
and  the  Lord  alone  be  exalted. 

The  Lord's-day  can  never  be  trifled  with 
but  ai  our  peril.  Like  every  appointment 
of  our  benevolent  Creator,  it  was  instituted 


130  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


for  the  benefit  of  his  creatures,  wisely 
adapted  to  fulfil  its  purpose  ;  and  he  who 
sells  its  privileges  for  gain,  or  barters  them 
for  pleasure,  makes  a  poor  bargain  indeed. 
Selfishness  —  narrow,  ungenerous,  short- 
sighted selfishness — generally  outwits  itself ; 
and  this  is  especially  the  case  with  employ- 
ers, who,  regardless  of  the  comfort,  health,  or 
morality  of  the  employed,  engage  them  in 
labour  on  this  day,  and  thereby  deprive  them 
of  its  benefits.  The  interests  of  employers 
are  inseparably  connected  with  the  well- 
being  of  the  employed.  The  labour  of  a 
healthy,  steady,  honest,  intelligent  workman, 
is  of  double  value  to  that  of  him  who  cannot 
be  depended  upon,  whose  moral  principles 
are  unsound,  or  his  habits  irregular ;  whose 
mind  is  uncultivated,  or  his  body  debilitated 
by  disease.  And  those  who  engage  men  in 
labour  or  business  upon  the  first  day  of 


1 

THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  131 


the  week,  may  blame  themselves,  if,  in  a  few 
years,  they  find  it  difficult  to  have  their 
work  well  performed,  and  discover  that  their 
property  is  far  from  being  secure. 

The  Sabbath  has,  with  beautiful  propriety, 
been  called,  "  the  poor  man's  day ;"  and  it 
seems,  indeed,  peculiarly  adapted  to  confer 
important  advantages  upon  him  :  not  one  of 
these,  however,  is  obtained  at  the  expense 
of  the  employers.  Its  blessings  are  suited 
to  all  classes,  but  the  working-classes  more 
especially  require  its  provisions  for  their 
happiness.  If  the  servant,  after  a  week  of 
labour,  enjoys  a  day  of  rest,  and  appears  in 
the  meeting  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  clean, 
comfortably  dressed,  and  respectable  as  his 
master,  it  is,  that,  fresh  and  vigorous,  he  may 
with  hearty  good-will  enter  upon  the  labours 
of  another  week.  A  feeling  of  self-respect, 
and  a  sense  of  moral  obligation,  raise  him 


132  THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS. 


above  eye-service,  or  anything  like  slight, 
sluggish,  or  improper  performance  of  labour; 
a  feeling  which,  though  it  cannot  stoop  to 
cringing  servility,  would  sooner  brook  dis- 
respect than  show  it  to  another,  whether 
employer  or  fellow-servant ;  and  a  sense  of 
moral  obligation,  whicji  makes  him  faithful 
in  whatever  he  is  entrusted  with,  enables 
him  to  understand  and  claim  his  own  rights, 
and  induces  him  without  reserve,  to  give  to 
all  others  their  due. 

The  Sabbath  interferes  with  the  interests 
of  none  but  those  who  live  by  the  ignorance, 
superstition,  vice,  and  degradation  of  man- 
kind ;  those  who  have  their  wealth  from 
Babylon  the  great,  who  traffic  in  "  slaves 
and  souls  of  men." 

Let  all,  then,  of  every  class  and  station, 
examine  this  subject ;  the  more  it  is  viewed 
in  the  light  of  truth,  the  more  its  importance 


THE    PEARL    OF    DAYS.  133 


will  appear.  He  who  is  desirous  of  the  well- 
being  of  his  fellow-men,  ought  not,  and  can- 
not consistently,  pass  it  lightly  by  ;  and  even 
he  whose  contracted  mind  looks  only  at  his 
personal  interest,  may  not  safely  slight  it. 


12 


THE 

Christian  Union  and  Religious  Memorial. 

EDITED    BY 

REV.    ROBERT     BAIRD,    D.    D. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY, 

AT   TWO   DOLLARS   PER   ANNUM,   IN  ADVANCE. 

THIS  magazine  is  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Christian 
Union  among  all  Evangelical  denominations,  and  its 
great  object  will  be  to  make  the  Church  below  more 
like  the  Church  above,  by  the  infusion  of  that  spirit  of 
Christian  love  and  brotherly  kindness  which  should 
distinguish  all  the  members  of  Christ's  body,  whatever 
name  they  bear  on  earth.  It  will  contain  essays 
on  Christian  union  and  collateral  subjects,  by  some  of 
the  best  writers  at  home  and  abroad. 

Another  essential  feature  of  our  work  will  be  a 
monthly  memorial  or  resume  of  the  progress  of  religion 
in  all  lands.  We  shall  pay  particular  attention  to  mis- 
sionary operations  throughout  the  world,  and  keep  our 
readers  acquainted  with  the  progress  of  religion  in 
foreign  countries  by  the  various  missionaries  there  em- 
ployed. 

Our  foreign  correspondence  will  be  extensive  and 
various,  and  our  readers  will  thus  be  kept  informed  of 
the  changes  and  progress  of  events  in  Europe. 

Although  we  shall  keep  clear  of  discussions  on  doc- 
trinal points,  we  shall  feel  at  full  liberty  to  animadvert 


THE    CHRISTIAN   UNION, 


freely  on  whatever  we  may  deem  errors  in  practice, 
wherever  they  may  exist.  At  the  same  time,  we  shall 
advocate,  with  all  our  powers,  every  time  Christian 
reform  which  shall  tend  to  improve  and  elevate  man- 
kind. 

Our  work  has  already  received  the  highest  commenda- 
tions, and  our  arrangements  will  enable  us  to  make  con- 
siderable improvements  the  coming  year. 

SAMUEL  HUESTON, 

139  Nassau  street. 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The  Christian  Union  and  Religious  Memorial,  edited 
by  DR.  BAIRD,  is  a  rich  repository  of  valuable  matter, 
statistical  and  historical,  bearing  upon  the  interests  of 
religion  in  all  parts  of  the  world. — N.  Y.  Observer. 

It  breathes  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  contains  no- 
tices of  the  progress  of  Christ's  kingdom  among  the  differ- 
ent branches  of  the  Church.  Conducted  by  DR.  BAIRD 
and  his  able  associates,  it  cannot  fail  to  do  great  good. 
Its  view  of  foreign  Churches  is  peculiarly  valuable,  from 
the  Dr.'s  long  residence  in  Europe. — Lutheran  Observer. 

Under  the  supervision  of  the  Rev.  DR.  BAIRD,  the 
Christian  Union  is  becoming  a  highly  valuable  publica- 
tion, and  will,  no  doubt,  obtain  an  extensive  circulation. 
The  principles  of  Christian  Union,  as  advocated  by  the 
editor,  are  such  as  all  evangelical  denominations  may 
unite  in,  without  sacrificing  any  peculiar  principles  of 
their  own. —  Christian  Secretary. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  UNION  AND  RELIGIOUS  MEMORIAL. 


»  It  is  a  precious  monthly,  published  by  S.   Hueston, 
139  Nassau  street,  New  York. — Christian  Intelligencer. 

We  deem  the  Union  an  important  auxiliary  in  spread- 
ing a  knowledge  of  the  condition  and  prospects  of  reli- 
gious denominations — a  knowledge,  which,  we  are  sorry 
to  say,  is  not  as  extensively  cultivated  as  it  should  be, 
either  by  the  ministry  or  the  private  members  of  the 
church. — S.  W.  Baptist  Chronicle. 

Every  bishop,  minister,  elder,  deacon  and  class-leader 
should  have  this  valuable  monthly.  Christians  of  eveiy 
name  must  unite  against  the  works  of  darkness,  banish 
for  ever  their  little  sectarianisms,  or  the  world  cannot  be 
saved. — Golden  Rule. 

The  statistical  information  furnished  by  this  publica- 
tion, and  its  notices  in  a  comprehensive  view  and  per- 
manent form,  of  the  manifestations  and  progress  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  all  lands,  render  it  valuable  and 
worthy  of  patronage. — Southern  Christian  Advocate. 

The  missionary  and  statistical  information  upon  its 
pages  must  render  it  of  great  value  as  a  book  of  refer- 
ence, while  its  essays  and  discussions  combine  much  to 
interest  and  instruct  the  serious  mind.  Its  catholic 
spirit  entitles  it  to  the  confidence  of  Christians  of  every 
name.  REV.  B.  T.  WELCH, 

Pastor  of  the  Pearl  St.  Baptist  church,  Albany,  N.  Y. 


Each  number  of  the  work  contains  64 
closely  printed  royal  octavo  pages,  and 
will  form  a  yearly  volume  of  768  pages. 


HEAVEN'S  ANTIDOTE 
CURSE    OF*  LABOR: 

Or  the  Temporal  Advantages  of  the  Sabbath  to  the 

Working  Classes. 

BY  JOHN  ALLAN  QUINTON. 

With  a  Prefatory  Notice  by  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D. 

This  beautiful  Essay  on  the  Sabbath,  from  the  pen  of  a 
journeyman  printer,  of  Ipswich,  England,  received  the  first 
prize  which  was  offered  by  Mr.  Henderson,  of  Glasgow, 
for  essays  on  that  subject  by  working  men.  The  fact  that 
it  was  selected  for  the  first  prize,  out  of  1045  compositions, 
must  be  sufficient  proof  of  its  merit.  The  American  edition 
contains  a  very  interesting  preface  by  Dr.  Tyng.  It  is  illus- 
trated, neatly  bound  in  clolh,  and  is  sold  for  37£  cents. 

NOTICES    OF    THE    PRESS. 

"  It  is  a  manly,  direct,  and  most  conclusive  presentation 
of  the  temporal  benefits  of  observing  the  Sabbath,  which 
we  should  suppose  no  one  could  peruse  without  a  definite 
impression.  It  should  especially  reach  laboring  men — its 
strong  sense  and  clear  logic  are  finely  suited  to  make  an  im- 
pression upon  the  popular  mind." — 'New  York  Evangelist. 

"  The  work  should  be  scattered  broadcast  over  the  laud." 
—Protestant  Churchman. 

"The  treatise  considers  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath 
under  the  heads  of  Physical,  Mercantile,  Intellectual,  Do- 
mestic, Moral,  and  Religious.  The  author  does  not  write 
theoretically,  but  from  personal  experience ;  and  no  work- 
ing man  can  read  his  essay  without  feeling  that  the  Sabbath 
is  one  of  the  greatest  temporal  blessings.  We  trust  that  the 
volume  will  have  a  wide  circulation  among  all  classes  in  our 
own  country;  for  all  need  its  salutary  counsels.  It  is  writ- 
ten iri  a  very  attractive  style,  and  neatly  printed." — Indepen 
dent. 

"  This  is  a  strong,  clear,  and  admirable  essay  on  the  Tem- 
poral Advantages  of  the  Sabbath,  considered  in  relation  to 
the  working  classes." — Courier  and  Enquirer. 

JUST    PUBLISHED    BY 

S.  HUESTON,  138  NASSAU-ST.,  NEW  YORK. 


BOWLING'S  CONFERENCE  HYMNS. 

A  NEW  COLLECTION  OF  HYMNS, 

DESIGNED  ESPECIALLY  FOR  USB  IN 

Conference  anb  Jprauer  Jtteetings, 

AND   FAMILY    WORSHIP. 

BY  J.  DOWLINO,  D.D. 

THB  design  of  the  present  compilation  is,  in  the  first  place, 
to  add  to  the  life  and  spirituality  of  the  Conference  and  the  Prayer 
Meeting;  and,  secondly,  to  be  an  acceptable  pocket  companion  to 
the  Christian,  in  the  family  or  in  the  closet. 

From  most  of  the  Conference  hymn  books  which  the  editor 
has  examined,  a  large  number  of  devotional  pieces,  cherished  in 
the  memory  and  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  in  our 
American  Zion,  have  been  excluded ;  probably  because  the  poe- 
try was  not  regarded  as  of  a  sufficiently  high  order  of  excellence. 
The  opinion  of  the  present  editor  is,  that  sacred  songs,  embodying 
scriptural  sentiments  and  genuine  religious  experience — when  not 
objectionable  on  the  score  of  vulgarity  or  grammatical  in accu- 
racy—should not  be  discarded  because  they  fail  to  stand  the  test 
of  a  rigid  poetical  censorship. 

To  mention  a  few  of  the  favorite  pieces  omitted  in  some  recent 
collections,  many  Christians  will  at  once  recognize  the  following, 
associated  as  some  of  them  are  with  their  sweetest  seasons  of  holy 
religious  enjoyment: — "Sweet  land  of  rest,  for  thee  I  sigh" — 
"  Whither  goest  thou,  pilgrim  stranger" — "  The  Lord  into  his 
garden  comes1' — "  Farewell,  dear  friends,  I  must  be  gone" — 
"  Amen,  amen,  my  soul  replies" — "  Come,  my  brethren,  let  us  try" 
1  Vain,  delusive  world,  adieu" — "  O  come,  my  loving  neigh' 


of  this  world's  vain  store" — "  To-day,  if  you 
— "  Beside  the  gospel  pool"  —  "  The  Good  Old  Way,"  commenc- 
cing,  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  Immanuel's  friends" — "  The  Harvest 
Home,"  commencing,  "  This  is  the  field,  the  world  below" — "  The 
Bower  of  Prayer" — ''The  Saints' Sweet  Home" — and  Newton's 


— and,  '-The  Lord  will  provide,"  commencing,  "  Though  troubles 
assail  and  dangers  affright." 

One  great  motive  in  the  present  work  was  to  restore,  for  the 
nse  of  the  Editor's  own  congregation  and  of  such  others  as  desire 
them,  the  above,  and  a  number  of  similar  devotional  and  familiar 
"  Sacred  Songs,"  omitted  in  some  recent  Conference  hymn  books. 

l£3r"  Copies  for  examination  furnished  gratis  to  post-paid  ap- 
plications—unbound  copies  sent  by  mail. 

Published  by  EDWARD  H.  FLETCHER, 
141  Nassau  Street,  N.  Y. 


CHEAP  CASH   BOOK  STORE, 

EDWARD    H.    FLETCHER, 

No*  14:1  Nassau  street, 

NEW  YORK. 

Has  constantly  on  hand,  at  wholesale  and  retail,  a  general 
assortment  of  Theological,  Classical,  Miscellaneous,  School 
and  Blank  Books  and  Stationery. 

A  complete  Depository  of  SABBATH  SCHOOL  BOOKS. 

Booksellers,  Traders,  Teachers,  Schools,  Academies  and 
Individuals  supplied,  wholesale  and  retail,  on  the  most  lib- 
eral terms. 

Religious  books  of  every  variety  which  are  to  be  found 
in  the  market,  may  be  obtained  here  at  the  very  lowest 
prices. 


SECOND-HAND  BOOKS. 

Valuable  Standard  Theological  and  other  Books  from 
private  libraries  will  be  sold  at  a  fraction  of  the  price  of 
new. 


MARRIAGE  CERTIFICATES, 

A  new  and  beautiful  article,  with  a  silver  border,  sam- 
ples of  which  will  be  sent  gratis  to  post-paid  applications. 
Published  by 

EDWARD   H.  FLETCHER, 

No.  141  Nassau  street. 


THE  copartnership  heretofore  existing  between  the  Sub- 
scribers, under  the  firm  of  LEWIS  COLBY  &  COM- 
PANY, is  this  day  dissolved  by  mutual  consent,  All  ac- 
counts will  be  settled  by  Lewis  Colby,  who  is  authorized 
to  use  the  name  of  the  firm  in  liquidation. 

LEWIS  COLBY. 
EDWARD  H.  FLETCHER. 
New  York,  September  5th,  1848. 


CIRCULAR, 


The  subscriber  respectfully  announces  to  his  friends  and 
the  public  that  he  has  opened  a  store  at  141  Nassau  street, 
where  he  will  continue  the  same  line  of  the  BOOKSELL- 
ING and  PUBLISHING  business  which  has  been  pur- 
sued by  the  late  firm. 

Having  been  regularly  bred  to  the  business,  added  to 
which  is  his  experience  in  the  late  concern  from  its  com- 
mencement, he  feels  confident  that  he  can  offer  to  his  patrons 
advantageous  terms. 

The  primary  object  of  this  establishment  will  be  the  pub- 
lication and  sale  of  Religious  Books. 

A  large  assortment  "of  Sabbath  School  Books  will  be 
kept,  and  to  this  department  much  attention  will  be  paid. 
If  Sabbath  Schools,  wishing  to  replenish  their  libraries,  or 
to  purchase  new  ones,  will  forward  their  funds,  and  a  list 
of  such  books  as  they  already  have,  their  orders  will  re- 
ceive prompt  attention,  and  the  selection  will  be  carefully 
made. 

Also  will  be  kept,  School  and  Blank  Books,  and  Sta- 
tionery of -every  variety— Sermon  Paper,  Marriage  Certifi- 
cates, &c. 

FOREIGN  BOOKS  imported,  for  a  small  commission. 

{Pif"  A  liberal  discount  will  be  made  to  Booksellers, 
Ministers,  and  Teachers. 

EDWARD   H.  FLETCHER. 

New  York,  September  23d,  1848. 


THE 

BAPTIST  SABBATH  SCHOOL 

HYMN  BOOK. 


A  NEW  edition  of  this  work,  which  was  compiled  by 
Rev.  JOSEPH  A.  WABNE,  has  just  been  issued.  It  con- 
tains five  hundred  hymns,  in  fair  type,  and  is  well  printed. 

Extract  from  the  Preface. 

"The  denomination  for  whose  use  this  volume  is  prepared,  is 
one  of  the  most  numerous  in  the  land  ;  and  one  which  therefore 
may  claim,  as  justly  as  any  other,  to  have  a  volume  of  hymns  for 
use  in  its  Sabbath  Schools,  all  of  which  shall  be  such  as  may  be 
employed  without  doing  violence  to  its  denominational  peculiar- 
ities, or  covertly  undermining  its  foundations  ;  and  if  there  is  such 
a  collection  in  existence,  the  compiler  has  not  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  meet  with  it. 

"  Sabbath  Schools  have,  of  late  years  (and  long  may  it  continue 
to  be  so),  been  favored  with  the  special  grace  of  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
and  great  numbers,  from  their  classes,  have  been  led  to  profess 
publicly  their  attachment  to  the  Redeemer.  It.  need  not  be  said 
that  a  volume  of  Hymns,  compiled  on  the  principle  of  merging  all 
denominational  peculiarities,  could  not  admit  into  its  pages  hymns 
on  the  subject  of  baptism.  But  need  Baptist  schools  be  thus  re- 
stricted 1  Surely  not :  and  though  our  books  of  hymns  used  in 
public  worship  contain  those  adapted  to  this  ordinance,  they  are 
yet  generally  both  quite  limited  in  their  number  and  quite  defi- 
cient in  allusion  to  the  early  age  of  those  candidates  who  are  from 
the  Sabbath  School,  and  who  often  constitute  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number.  This  volume  contains  several  hymns  on  this 
subject,  not  found  in  books  in  common  use  in  this  vicinity,  in 
New  England,  or,  it  is  believed,  in  the  South  or  West  generally." 

|^"  Copies  for  examination  furnished  gratis  to  post- 
paid applications. 

EDWARD  H.  FLETCHER, 

Publisher, 

141  NASSAU  ST.,  N.  YORK. 


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